Animal Pen/Farming Simulator 19

Animal Pens are a category of Placeables in Farming Simulator 19. Each type of Animal Pen can be filled with a specific type of Animal and its required materials in order to generate a new (higher-value) product, breed animals for extra profit, and/or train animals to increase their sale value. The handling of animals and their products is called "Animal Husbandry", and is one of the primary ways to make a profit in this game.

This is the first game in the Farming Simulator series in which the default maps do not feature any pre-placed Animal Pens. Instead, players must purchase land Parcels and then buy Animals Pens from the "Placeables" category at the Store, to be placed wherever the player see fit. This requires plenty of money and plenty of open space, as well as forethought regarding the best place to put each pen to make the work easier.

Each type of Animal Pen can hold one specific type of animal. Animals must be purchased from the Animal Dealer, for a set price per animal. There is also an extra transportation fee per animal that can only be avoided if the player purchases an Animal Transport and uses it to manually move animals from the dealer to the pen. Animals can also be purchased directly at the Animal Pen (transport fee included), and can also be sold from there.

Each Animal Pen has multiple marked drop-off zones where materials can be dumped into the pen to be made available for the animals. Different Animal Pens accept different materials, and have a different storage capacity for each material that depends on the number of animals in the pen at any given time. Input materials cannot be removed from the pen once they've been dumped into it.

Once animals are provided with the proper materials, they will begin to produce whatever the pen is designed for. Most animals produce at least one material to be sold (or used on your fields). Animals in pens may also be able to breed, slowly filling the pen with more animals until capacity is reached. At that point, you may sell the excess animals for a profit. The Horse Paddock is the odd one out, as it does not produce materials nor breed animals, but instead increases the value of existing animals until they can be sold for much more money than their purchase price.

Most Animal Pens require quite a bit of attention. They must be supplied with materials regularly; products must be removed and taken to sell or use; animals must be sold when the pen fills up; and the animals' feeding trough must be regularly cleaned to ensure maximum production rates. The amount of effort and materials required changed from one type of pen to the next.

All Animal Pens can be sold off, if the need arises. This requires selling off all the animals first, and any materials left in the pen when it is sold will disappear without reimbursement.

Types

The base game offers five different types of Animal Pens. Each type of Pen houses a different kind of Animal, takes different types of Materials (and has different capacities for each material), and creates different products.

Type	Animal	Input Materials	Products
Chicken Coop	Chickens
Sheep Pasture	Sheep
Pig Enclosure	Pigs
Cow Pasture	Cows
Horse Paddock	Horses		Special

The base game offers two models of each Animal Pen type - a "small" and "large" model. They differ from each other primarily by physical size and the number of animals they can house.

Placement

Farming Simulator 19 is the first game in the series where none of the default maps feature any pre-placed Animal Pens. Instead, players must purchase their own Animal Pens from the Store, and can place them down where they wish. While this means that Animal Husbandry takes more money to start off, it allows a lot of flexibility in deciding the best place for each Pen, and also allows placing multiple Animal Pens on the map if so desired.

In order to place down an Animal Pen, the player must first purchase a Parcel that is large enough to contain that Pen. Most Animal Pens are very large, and some Parcels may not have the space for them. Flatness is also an issue, so some Landscaping may be required to make the land flat enough for the Pen (note: some flattening can be done automatically during placement, but there are limits).

TIP: Since Parcels are bought and sold for the exact same price, you can purchase land parcels just to check whether they are large enough to fit a Pen, then sell them off if they are found to be unsuitable - for no loss.

Animal Pens are purchased from the "Placeables" category at the Store, where they have their own Subcategory. Each Pen model has a different purchase cost, as well as a Maintenance Cost equal to 1/1000 of its purchase price. Make sure to compare the capacity of each Pen, as larger pens can usually hold several times more animals than the small models.

Rotation can be extremely important when placing down Sheep Pastures and Chicken Coops, because of how the game handles product output for these pens. Make sure to place them at 0, 90, 180 or 270 degrees relative to north, otherwise their capacity for the output product may be reduced. Other pens do not require this consideration.

If there is no open grassy space in a Parcel, remember that you can place a pen directly onto a field. This destroys the part of the field that the pen occupies, but fields are usually placed on obstacle-free, flat space, which is perfect for pens. Make sure to fix the shape of the field after doing this, to give machines enough room to operate.

Placement Tips

There are several important things to consider when placing a Pen on the map:

• Distance to Input Material Sources: Make sure that the pen is nearby to fields where you can grow the required input materials. Placing a pen in an area with no nearby fields can result in long transportation times when taking materials to the pen. Small fields are usually enough to feed small animals (e.g. Chickens or Sheep) for many days. For larger animals, you will eventually need larger fields to keep your animals fed constantly.
• Distance to Water: Since most animals need Water, it is generally a good idea to place your early pens close to a body of water so you can collect it and transport it to the pens easily and quickly. However, later on you'll be able to place a Water Tank anywhere you want, and this functions the same as a body of water.
• Distance to Animal Trader: Some Animals (e.g. Pigs) breed so quickly that you will need to make multiple trips to the Animal Dealer per day to sell off the excess. Placing such pens close to the Animal Dealer will cut down on transport times.
• Distance to Other Pens: Some pens benefit from being close to one another, so that providing them with input materials will take less time and effort. Technically speaking, most animals require both Water and Straw, and should be placed close together. The same goes for products like Slurry and Manure, which can more easily be collected from Cow and Pig pens when they are closer together. Optimally, you'll want all your pens in the same location so a single Tractor could clean them all quickly.
• Maneuvering Space: Make sure to leave plenty of maneuvering space for vehicles around your pens. Large transport vehicles may need to enter and leave the various pick-up/drop-off points around the pen, requiring space to turn around. A space of at least 50 meters between pens should be idea.
• Storage Space: Make sure to leave room for a Hay Loft and/or Water Tank near your pens, or at least near pens that require materials stored inside those pens. If your pens are placed far from your home Silo, consider leaving space for a separate Silo nearby where Crops could be stored. Otherwise, some space for one or more Heaps of materials can be helpful, and/or space to park storage Tippers. This is especially true near Cow Pastures where you will likely want to create Total Mixed Ration from heaps of Silage.
• Conveyor Belt Space: Many Pens can benefit from the installation of Conveyor Belt systems, especially when dealing with Manure or when setting up automatic cleaning systems. Conveyor Belts do not necessarily require a lot of space, but some forethought should be put into making sure that there is enough space for them.

Buying Animals

Before a pen can do anything, you must first place at leave one animal in that pen. Animals can be acquired from the Animal Dealer, directly from the Pen itself, or transferred from one Pen to another.

Each Pen model has a limited capacity for animals, as listed at the Store. Once that limit is reached, animals inside that pen stop breeding until some room is cleared.

Since most animals breed over time, it is generally a good idea to purchase only a handful of animals to start with, and allow them to fill the pen themselves. The exception are Chickens, whose price is so low that you can easily buy hundreds to start with, and Horses who do not breed at all.

Animal Dealer

Main article: Animal Dealer (Farming Simulator 19)

The primary place to purchase animals is at the Animal Dealer. Outside the building is a large marked area for animal transactions, where animals can be bought or sold.

Standing on this area and hitting the "Open Animal Dialog" button Open Animal DialogDefault Buttons: R ?? ?? will open the animal purchase/sale menu. This button behaves differently depending on circumstances:

• If you have no Animal Pens, the menu will refuse to open.
• If you have only one Animal Pen, the menu will open for that specific pen, allowing you to purchase animals directly for that pen. It will only show animals that match the pen.
• If you have multiple Animal Pens, you will first be asked to select one. The menu will then open for that specific pen. It will only show animals that match the pen.
• If you open the menu while inside a vehicle towing an Animal Transport, the menu will open for that transport, allowing you to move animals into/out of it. With Animal Transports the menu shows all types of animals that are available for purchase and can be carried in an Animal Transport, even if the current transport cannot carry every type of animal.

In the Animal Dialog menu, you can move animals from the Animal Dealer to your selected target. A list at the center of the screen shows the amount of money you would need to pay, including Transport Fees if applicable. You may move animals back and forth at will. When you are satisfied with your choice, hit the "confirm" button Confirm Animal TransferDefault Buttons: Spacebar ?? ?? to pay the stated amount and finalize the transfer.

If animals are being moved directly to or from an Animal Pen, you will have to pay a transport fee for each animal. Larger (more expensive) animals have a higher transport fee.

To avoid the transport fee entirely, visit the animal dealer while in a vehicle towing an Animal Transport. You will be able to purchase animals into the transport without paying any fee. You will then need to drive the transport to the Animal Pen and drop them off there manually.

Animal Pen

Instead of visiting the Animal Dealer, you can purchase animals for a pen directly at the pen. Each Pen has a marked area that functions similarly to the Animal Dealer sale area, as described above.

When purchasing directly at the Animal Pen, this pen is automatically selected as the destination for the animals. You cannot buy animals for one pen at another pen.

When purchasing this way, you will always have to pay a Transport Fee. Putting an Animal Transport on the marked area will instead allow you to move animals from the pen into the transport, e.g. when you wish to take them to be sold.

Transfers

Instead of purchasing new animals for a pen, you can transfer existing animals from one pen to another. This is very useful when expanding your business by buying more pens of the same type that you already have. Simply populate the new pen with a few animals from an existing one.

To transfer animals, you will always have to use an Animal Transport, and manually load them / drop them off. There are no transport fees involved.

Input Materials

For Animals to begin producing, they must be provided with a variety of input materials. Each type of animal requires different materials. Some animals can produce different types of products depending on which input materials are provided. The production rate may also be affected by which materials are available.

Each Animal Pen has at least one input zone where materials can be dumped. Pens may have up to three different dumping zones. These zones are marked with black and yellow stripes. If you do not see the stripes, they might be turned off in your settings menu.

Water

All animals except Chickens require Water.

This material can be acquired for free from an open body of water or from a Water Tank.

Water has its own input zone at the pen, right next to a watering trough. Only Water can be dumped in this zone.

Water can be brought to the Pen using Water Tankers. When the tanker is set to dump water into the pen, it will continuously do so until it runs out of water, is pulled away, or is explicitly told to stop dumping. As Water is consumed by the animals, the tanker will continue to fill it.

Straw

Cows, Pigs and Horses require Straw.

This material is a free byproduct that may be produced during the harvest of Wheat, Barley and Oats.

Straw has its own input zone at the pen, outside the fence. Only Straw can be dumped in this zone.

Straw can be brought to the pen using Tippers, Loading Wagons, Straw Blowers or Mixer Wagons. It can be stored next to the pen in a Hay Loft for convenience, or dumped as a Heap next to the pen if there's room.

Food

Each animal requires at least one type of food, in the form of Crops. Different animals will eat different types of Crops.

Each pen has only one dumping zone for all food types. It will accept any of the required food types so long as there is room for that particular food type in the pen.

Some animals require just one type of crop to eat, out of several options. More valuable crops fed to these animals typically result in higher production rates.

Other animals require multiple types of crops to be provided simultaneously. Each crop raises productivity by a certain amount, so that providing all crops results in maximum productivity.

Finally, many animals have two or more crops that function identically for those animals. For example, Chickens can eat either Wheat or Barley, and either option works the same for them. In this case, you only need to provide one of the options. Financially speaking, it is best to provide the lowest-value material to those animals.

Storage and Capacities

Each Animal Pen has one or more internal storage areas to hold materials dumped into that pen.

Each dumping zone corresponds to at least one internal storage unit. For example, dumping Water into the pen will store it in a separate storage area (called the "Watering Trough") inside the pen. Multiple types of Food typically have their own internal storage areas, despite all foods being dumped in the same place. This changes from pen to pen, so it is important to read the articles about individual pen types to understand how materials are stored inside them.

The maximum capacity of each storage area is different. They are generally based on the following formula:

Storage Capacity = Consumption per Animal per Day * Number of Animals * 10

This provides the animals with 10 days' worth of materials, requiring you to fill the pen only once per 10 days - assuming the number of animals in the pen does not change.

For example, each Chicken eats 5 liters of food per day, so the capacity of food at a Chicken Coop when it contains 100 chickens is 5 * 100 * 10 = 5,000 liters.

Most pens have a minimum capacity that is applied when there are only a few animals inside the pen. This overrides the calculation above. The minimum is usually around 1,000 liters, though it changes from pen to pen, and from one material to the other.

Products

Each Animal Pen (except Horse Paddocks) creates a certain product, as long as the animals inside are provided with the required materials. These products can only be acquired from Animal Pens - there is no other place to get them.

Some pens produce materials at a constant rate based on the pen's "Productivity" rating as well as the number of animals living inside. Productivity is determined on various factors, different from one type of pen to another. Generally speaking, the availability of Straw, the types of Food provided to the animals, and the current "Cleanliness" rating of the pen all determine the final Productivity value. The more animals live inside the pen, the more product is created every day.

Other pens produce materials at a constantly-increasing rate. The rate starts at 0 liters per day, but increases slowly every 15 minutes of game time based on the number of animals in the pen. The rate does not increase infinitely, however, as it is occasionally reset due to how materials are placed in boxes or pallets outside the pen.

Pens have different ways to store their products. Some materials are stored internally, in storage areas that can hold up to 800,000 liters. Others materials are stored externally, and can be removed with a tool or sometimes even by hand. It is important to understand how materials are stored in each pen, by reading the individual Animal Pen articles.

Productivity

Each Animal Pen has a value called "Productivity" that determines the rate at which it produces materials. Productivity ranges from 0% to 100%, where 0% means no production and 100% means full production.

Productivity is affected by either two or three of the following factors:

• Food: Base Productivity is determined by which types of food are provided to the animals. Most animals require just one type of food out of several available options, giving a Base Productivity rating depending on which food was provided. Others have an incremental bonus for each different type of food you provide.
• Straw: As long as Straw is available (for Pens that accept it), Productivity is increased by +10%.
• Cleanliness: Explained below, Cleanliness tracks the amount of food lying on the ground in front of the feeding trough. 1/10th of the Cleanliness rating is added to Productivity, for a bonus of +10%.

For Constant Production pens (Cow Pastures), production per day is simply multiplied by the current Productivity rating.

For Accelerating Production pens (Sheep and Chickens), the increase in production rates every 15 minutes is multiplied by the current Productivity rating.

Productivity also directly affects breeding rates, as explained below.

Note: Productivity does not apply to By-Products (Slurry and Manure), which are produced at an completely constant rate every 15 minutes.

Cleanliness

Each Animal Pen (except Horse Paddocks) has its own "Cleanliness" value. This tracks the physical cleanliness of the pen's feeding area as it gets dirty over time. The Cleanliness value has a small effect on the animal pen's Productivity rating, so keeping the pen clean is necessary to ensure peak production.

Cleanliness starts at 100% for a new Animal Pen. Whenever the animals inside the pen consume food, around 1/5 of that food is ejected on the ground outside their feeding trough in the form of Heaps. The more ejected food there is on the ground in front of the trough, the lower the pen's Cleanliness value.

Cleanliness is calculated as follows:

Cleanliness = 100 - ( Amount of Food on the Ground * 100 / ( Food Ejected by one Animal per Day * 2 * Number of Animals in the Pen ) )

By this formula, if the animals are fed constantly, the Cleanliness value will drop from 100% to 0% in exactly 2 days.

To recover Cleanliness, simply remove the ejected food heaps from the marked area in front of the feeding trough. This is easy to do with a Loader and Shovel, but may also be done with a Conveyor Belt or with other types of tools. You can immediately dump the food back into the feeding trough to give it back to your animals.

The Cleanliness value is divided by 10 and added to the pen's Productivity value. For example, at 60% Cleanliness you get +6% to Productivity. The maximum bonus to Productivity is +10%. This is the only effect that Cleanliness has in the game.

Ejected Material

The type of material ejected onto the ground changes from one type of Pen to another.

• Chickens always eject Wheat, even if they've been fed on Barley. Since Wheat is more valuable than Barley, you can get a tiny profit back from selling the Wheat instead of dumping it back into the pen.
• Sheep always eject Grass, even if they've been fed on Hay. Since Grass is less valuable than Hay, you should always dump it back into the pen.
• Pigs always eject Pig Food, no matter what they've been eating. Dumping the Pig Food back into the pen is equivalent to giving pigs all four Food Groups they need to reach maximum productivity!
• Cows eject whatever food they've been consuming - which is always the best food provided to them at the time. The only exception is Silage, which is always ejected as Hay.

Constant Products

In Constant Production pens, each animal in the pen produces a specific amount of product every 15 minutes, multiplied by the current Productivity rating of the pen.

In these pens it is easy to calculate how much product each animal makes per day, and therefore how much product the entire pen will make per day:

Product per Animal per Day = Product per Animal per 15 minutes * 4 * 24 hours
Total Product per Day = Product per Animal per Day * Number of Animals in the Pen * Productivity Rating

Example: Each Cow produces 1.5625 liters of Milk every 15 minutes at peak Productivity. Therefore, each Cow produces 150 liters of Milk per day. In a pen with 200 Cows and a 70% Productivity Rating, production per day would be 150 * 200 * 70% = 21,000 liters of Milk per day.

In the base game, only Cow Pastures have a Constant Production rate.

Accelerating Products

In Accelerating Production pens, production is never constant. A new pen has exactly 0 liters per day of production, but this rate increases every 15 minutes depending mainly on how many animals there are in the pen.

These pens do not stockpile their product internally; Instead they place the product into boxes or Pallets in a marked area outside the pen. Each box/pallet can only hold a certain amount of material. Once a box/pallet is full, it can be removed and taken to be sold, making room for more boxes/pallets.

To ensure that the constantly-accelerating production does not reach massively high rates, the game has an unusual way of "resetting" production: If its current production rate exceeds the amount of free space in the box/pallet it is trying to fill, the production rate is reduced to the amount of material placed in the box/pallet.

For example, if the production rate at a Sheep Pasture has reached 100 liters of Wool, but the pallet on the loading platform only has 15 liters of room for more Wool, the production rate is reduced back to 15 liters.

This system makes production rates fluctuate constantly; They rise and rise and then suddenly drop, over and over again. This makes actual production rates impossible to calculate, since they depend on many variables that cannot be predicted. Nevertheless, having more animals inside the pen causes production rates to recover more quickly after any big drop.

Tip: There is a weakness in this system that can be exploited. By removing each box/pallet before it is full, production rates are never allowed to reset. Continue this for long enough, and you can reach the pen's absolute maximum production rate, which is one full box/pallet per 15 minutes. Reaching this high level requires a lot of effort and attention to the pen, since allowing a single box/pallet to reach full capacity will instantly reset all of your progress. However once maximum production is reached, it becomes completely stable.