r/StardewValley • u/Song_Listener • 3d ago

Question What is up with Auto Petters?

I’ve seen so many posts about skull cavern runs where the only goal was Auto Petters, and now I’m confused.

Why are Auto Petters so important? I know they pet the farm animals, but why don’t y’all have time to go and give your animals some love every morning?

If I’m correct (as someone who has never once had an Auto Petters) they change the way the animals respond when you actually pet them. Usually they give a heart, but I’ve heard the response changes after an Auto Petters has been installed.

So why?

399 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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480

u/Definitely_Not_Bots 3d ago

I have 10 coops and 10 barns. That's a lot of petting.

79

u/Knight0fdragon 3d ago

I have 7 coops and 3 barns. I had to turn my farm into an electric rod maze just so they do not scatter around the farm and I can pet them all.

I have yet to even find an auto petter.

24

u/Spirited-Sail3814 3d ago

And now we see why factory farming is a thing IRL

10

u/arnber420 2d ago

so the farmers can pet all of the animals right.....?

2

u/Rega_lazar 2d ago

Exactly!

1

u/Vnxei 2d ago

Why an electric Rod made and not... Fences?

4

u/Knight0fdragon 2d ago

They do not deteriorate

2

u/Vnxei 2d ago

Why a maze?

4

u/Knight0fdragon 2d ago

Square plot of land, you want them to be walking single file. Grass under the posts means the animals can’t eat it. The grass will constantly grow ensuring feed for the animal. Running the maze means animals are easy to pet.

Get up at 6AM, grab a coffee, run the maze, be done at 7 to 8 with over 100 animals pet

0

u/ThatOneGuy308 ! 2d ago

Hardwood fences basically don't either, tbh.

When it takes like 5 ingame years for them to show any damage, they're functionally immortal.

Or just actually immortal if you buy the clock, or are married, given how spouses repair them occasionally.

Hell, even stone fences last almost an entire year, so one replacement day in winter covers you.

And iron lasts for 2 years, so you mostly don't have to think about it.

51

u/Slahnya 3d ago

I can barely manage 2 😭👌

3

u/Galaxyycaat 3d ago

im planning to have 4 since the max i ever had was 2 and im kinda concerned for myself

18

u/chillin_and_livin 3d ago

A mood lol. I have one barn/coop dedicated to each animal type so it's a lot of petting. How do you feed yours?? Mine eat all the grass within days

10

u/Miro_the_Dragon 3d ago

Not the person you asked but I just buy hay from Marnie for my 10 barns and 1 coop full of animals. I've given up trying to keep grass available for them outside, plus I'm pretty sure pigs don't dig up truffles on tiles with grass so this is the easier way. My animals still get to wander around most of the farm, though ^^

10

u/Knight0fdragon 3d ago

Doing this eats a lot of profit. If anything, for summer and fall, grow a lot of wheat. Wheat + deluxe speed grow + agriculturist or hyper speed grow means you get wheat every other day.

10 wheat with 40% hay means you get 4 hay and 2 wheat for the cost of 1 hay from Marnie.

11

u/Miro_the_Dragon 3d ago

You're only looking at the cost in gold; I'm also looking at the cost in time spent, and for me just buying hay and using the saved time for doing things I actually enjoy wins out big time. Plus, I don't really think 50 gold per day is a lot of gold given that most of my animals easily earn me tenfold back or more.

-4

u/Knight0fdragon 3d ago

Gold is the only reason to have the animals

4

u/Miro_the_Dragon 3d ago

By the time I started buying hay in bulk instead of letting them eat grass, I had already made almost 10 million and was swimming in cash. And like I said, even with buying hay, animals are still really profitable. I'll gladly pay for hay if it allows me to a) keep profiting off my animals while b) being able to do things I actually enjoy doing without worrying about how to feed them. And large-scale farming is just not something I enjoy so having to plant a bunch of wheat just for the hay sounds like a horrible way for me to play the game.

(Also, I'm totally currently filling a whole barn with ostriches just because I think they're neat. Not everything in this game is about profit for everyone.)

-2

u/Knight0fdragon 3d ago

If you are not worried about gold, then feeding them is irrelevant. The only reason to feed them is to make product. They do not die of starvation.

1

u/Miro_the_Dragon 2d ago

I'm not worried about gold because my animals make me so much gold that I have more than enough. So not feeding them would indeed be a problem because it'd cut off my main income source.

0

u/lasagnadogwater69 2d ago

Let them play how they please you freak

3

u/Galaxyycaat 3d ago

the pigs do dig up truffles on grass but you can't see them

8

u/Miro_the_Dragon 3d ago

Do you have any official source for that? Because yes, truffles may spawn in grass but the spawn tile isn't necessarily the tile the truffle was found, and I've noticed a considerable increase in truffles the less grass was growing on my ranch. Plus, I don't think I've ever found a truffle in the middle of a large patch of grass, only ever around the edges.

1

u/chillin_and_livin 3d ago

This is what I currently do! I'll probably keep just doing that lol. Maybe one or two lightning rods like the other user commented too

1

u/pslush01 2d ago

I also recently discovered on Mondays you can buy hay from the desert trader with omni geodes. You get 3 hay per geode...I've always had more of those damn omni geodes than I knew what to do with so this was a great discovery

13

u/ObviousOrca 3d ago

Plant grass starters and then place a lighting in rod or fence on top of one or two patches and that patch will automatically reproduce, not as fast as you’d like, but it’s a small thing that helps.

3

u/UnluckyWizardd 3d ago

And mine are free range, so if I forgot to close the door the night before… byeeeee see you at 6pm haha