Grass/Farming Simulator 19

The in-game icon for Grass.

The in-game icon for Loose Grass.

Grass is a type of Crop in Farming Simulator 19. It is a unique crop that requires multiple unique (but often cheap) machinery to grow and harvest. The end product, Loose Grass, is plentiful but extremely cheap. It is primarily useful in Animal Husbandry.

Grass grows by default on most of the map, between fields. It can also be sown on actual fields using a Seeder, or even with a few models of Cultivators and Weeders. It takes only 300 liters of Seeds to sow a hectare of field with Grass.

Grass grows 50% more slowly than basic crops like Wheat, but it skips two growth stages entirely to reach maturity almost 3 times as quickly. It ignores the "Needs Plowing" state, the "Needs Lime" state, and does not grow any Weeds. After each harvest, grass automatically resets to the first growth stage without the need for sowing. It also retains 50% Fertilization after the harvest.

Grass is harvested with a special machine called a Mower. An unfertilized hectare of Grass produces 43,700 liters of Loose Grass, which is normally left on the field. It can then be Windrowed and collected using a Loading Wagon. It can also be Baled or picked up by a Loader, and can even be automatically harvested into a Tipper using a properly-equipped Forage Harvester.

In its basic form, Loose Grass is the cheapest of all crops, sold at the Barn for an average of only $81 per 1,000 liters. However, it can be fed to Sheep for maximum Productivity, or to Cows for minimum Productivity.

Instead, Grass can be processed immediately with a Tedder to turn it into Hay, which is slightly more profitable and much more effective as Cow feed. Hay is also a primary component of Total Mixed Ration, which is the best possible food for Cows.

Finally, Bales of Grass can be wrapped in order to create a modest amount of Silage, increasing their value several times over. Silage is also a primary component in Total Mixed Ration. However, the work of baling and wrapping Grass is not trivial, and is the least-efficient way to obtain large quantities of Silage.

Meadows

The most plentiful source of Grass is called "Meadows". Meadows are large areas of grass growing wild on practically any part of the map that isn't a field, road, building, or dirt. At the start of the game, nearly 80-90% of the map should be covered in grass.

Meadows can be harvested just like field-grown Grass (see below), so long as you own the Parcel. You may not harvest Grass growing on non-owned Parcels.

Harvesting from Meadows is more difficult due to the inability to use Hired Workers. It is also impossible to Fertilize a meadow, resulting in less potential yield per hectare than field-grown Grass.

Creating Meadows

You may turn most land into a Meadow by Landscaping it, using the "Paint Terrain" tool to place down one of the textures that includes grass.

Painting grass this way incurs a small cost for each square meter you paint, but you do not need to spend any money sowing grass on the painted area.

Painting grass on a field will erase that particular part of the field. This is a much quicker and more accurate alternative to using Rollers (which are much more difficult to use in this game). Note that Rollers do not automatically plant a meadow, either, making the Landscaping option much more preferable.

The grass on a Painted Meadow starts at Growth Stage 1, just like sowed grass.

Sowing

Grass can be sown in an organized fashion on any existing field. This can be done with any of the Seeders available in the base game, but not with any Planters. There are also several models of Cultivators and Weeders that can sow Grass.

Each hectare of Grass sown requires approximately 300 liters of seeds. This is significantly less than most other crops. Note that once a field has been sown with Grass, it no longer needs to be sown after each harvest.

There is no need to Plow, Lime or Weed a field prior to sowing it with Grass, since Grass completely ignores all of these Soil Composition states. Nevertheless, it is still a good idea to Fertilizer the field after sowing, as it will increase the yield during the next harvest.

Sowing Grass on a field has two important advantages over simply using existing Meadows:

1. Hired Workers can be used to Mow a field of Grass, as well as perform some (but not all) of the follow-up jobs such as Windrowing.
2. Fields of Grass can be Fertilized, whereas Meadows cannot. This can potentially double the Grass yield during the harvest.

Growth

Once Grass has been sown, or a new Meadow created, it immediately begins growing.

At "Normal" crop growth speed the first growth stage will be reached after 10 hours - about 50% longer than most other crops. However, after only 10 more hours the Grass will have reached its Harvestable stage - much faster than any other crop.

Grass only has one Harvest stage, and never advances past it. It never withers, even if the "Plant withering" option is turned on.

Grass resumes growing immediately after being mowed, and will take the same amount of time to reach the Harvest stage again.

Mowing

"Mowing" is the act of cutting Grass and turning it into Loose Grass - the Material form that can be manipulated and carried as cargo.

Mowing Grass can only be performed with a Mower - special machinery designed for this particular purpose. There are several models of Mower Implements in the base game, as well as one self-propelled (Vehicle) Mower. The procedure and end result is identical in both cases.

An unfertilized hectare of Grass should yield approximately 43,700 liters of Loose Grass. Fertilizing to 100% should yield double this amount, approximately 87,400 liters. This is only possible when the Grass is growing on a field, as Meadow grass may not be fertilized. Note that Grass does not benefit from Lime, and will never grow Weeds or require Plowing, so these effects do not change the yield of Grass in any way.

Unlike with normal Harvesters, a Mower does not collect the Loose Grass created during the cutting process; Instead it leaves the Loose Grass in Heaps spread out across the entire Working Width of the Mower's cutting heads. This is essentially a "blanket" of Loose Grass that is difficult to pick up. For this reason, Windowers are typically used to arrange the grass into long Heaps that are very easy to collect.

Mowing does not kill or remove Grass. Instead, any piece of land that is mowed will immediately return to the first stage of growth. Therefore, so long as you do not replace the Grass with another crop, you will never need to re-sow it.

NOTE: If the Grass is fertilized, mowing it will reset the fertilization to 50%. You can immediately spray the field again to regain 100% fertilization.

Windrowing

Main article: Windrowers (Farming Simulator 19)

During Mowing, each mower head spreads its Loose Grass on the ground in a wide, shallow Heap. Multiple cutting heads leave multiple heaps, resulting in a very wide blanket of Loose Grass on the ground behind the mower vehicle. This blanket would take a very long time to pick up with any machinery.

Instead, you can use a Windrower to sort the Loose Grass into neat long lines, with each line containing all of the collected Loose Grass from a very wide area around it. Each line can then be picked up easily with any pick-up machinery, such as a Loading Wagon.

NOTE: If you intend to turn Grass into Hay, wait until that job is done before Windrowing.

Collecting

After Windrowing the product, Loose Grass can be picked up in loose form with one of two different types of machines: Loading Wagons or Forage Harvesters. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Loading Wagons

Main article: Loading Wagons (Farming Simulator 19)

A Loading Wagon is a type of Container with a relatively large capacity that can pick up its own cargo from Heaps on the ground. When towed behind a vehicle and activated, it will automatically pick up any cargo it can carry.

To pick up Loose Grass, activate Turn On MachineDefault Buttons: B ?? ?? and lower Lower MachineDefault Buttons: V ?? ?? the pick-up header of your Loading Wagon and drive it over each individual windrow. The machine will stop automatically once it's full, so there is no danger of losing any of the grass.

The Loading Wagon is significantly cheaper than any Forage Harvester, but has a slightly narrower working width. It is the most efficient way to collect Loose Grass, in most circumstances.

Forage Harvesters

Main article: Pickup Headers (Farming Simulator 19)

Alternatively, you can use a Forage Harvester equipped with a Pickup Header to collect Loose Grass from the ground. This has a similar effect to a Loading Wagon, but with a few key differences.

The Forage Harvester has no internal storage, and must constantly empty itself into a nearby Loading Wagon or Tipper that is capable of collecting of Grass. This has to happen continuously; If the Forage Harvester cannot find a valid container to empty itself into, it will not collect any Loose Grass.

Forage Harvesters are much more expensive than Loading Wagons, but their main advantage is in Multiplayer mode when multiple tractors or other vehicles can tow tippers into range of the harvester so that it never has to stop during the work. Each time a container is full, the Forage Harvester can switch to another tipper almost instantly, as the tractor towing the full container drives away to unload.

Other than this, the available Pickup Header models are roughly 25% wider than any Loading Wagon model in the base game, making it easier to avoid missing bits of Loose Grass on the ground.

Storing Loose Grass

Loose Grass cannot be stored in a Silo or Hay Loft. Therefore, the only two ways to store loose Grass is either inside a Container (which makes that container unavailable for other jobs) or in a Heap (which takes up lots of space).

These storage issues are one reason why it may be better to collect Grass in Bale form (see next chapter), or to turn it into Hay (see below). Both those options take more work but make the product easier to store.

Baling

Main article: Balers (Farming Simulator 19)

Instead of picking up Loose Grass in its loose form, it may be better to turn it into Bales. This can be done at any point after mowing, or even after the grass has been collected, but it is generally easiest to bale grass right after it is Windrowed (see above).

Balers pack the loose grass into Bale form - either Square Bales or Round Bales depending on the machine. Each bale contains up to 4,000 liters of Grass, and is a solid object that can be pushed, lifted, or carried as a single unit. Bales never disintegrate back into Loose Grass unless you intend them to. They can be used the same as Loose Grass in all circumstances.

The bales can then be picked up easily by a Bale Collector, or loaded onto a Bale Trailer for transportation. Bale Collectors are generally preferable (though more expensive), as explained below.

Wrapping

Main article: Bale Wrappers (Farming Simulator 19)

At any time, you may use a Bale Wrapper to turn your Grass bales into Silage bales. A Bale Wrapper grabs a nearby bale automatically, and takes several seconds to wrap it in plastic. As soon as the process is complete, the contents of the bale will instantly turn into an equivalent quantity of Silage.

Different Bale Wrapper models can handle different bale shapes, so it is important to buy a Wrapper that matches your Baler.

Once the bale has been turned into Silage, its value will have increased several times over. It can now also be used to create Total Mixed Ration, a super-food for Cows that maximizes their Productivity and breeding rate.

Storing Grass Bales

Bales are much easier to store than Loose Grass, as they take significantly less space. Furthermore, Bale Collectors can automatically stack multiple bales at the storage area, making a neat stack that takes up very little space relative to the amount of Grass it contains.

Though bales can be used instead of Loose Grass in practically all circumstances, you may occasionally want to turn a Bale back into Loose Grass, e.g. if you suddenly need to turn it into Hay with a Tedder. This can be accomplished by loading the bale into a Mixer Wagon and hitting the "Unload Here" button Unload Loose MaterialDefault Buttons: L.Ctrl + I ?? ??. This will create a Heap of Loose Grass which can be worked normally. You can then turn the Loose Grass back into Bales, if necessary, with a Baler.

Tedding

Main article: Tedders (Farming Simulator 19)

With just a single process, you can turn Loose Grass into an equal quantity of Hay by running over it with a working Tedder. The Tedder turns any Loose Grass it touches into Hay, spreading it on the ground.

It is generally best to use the Tedder immediately after Mowing the grass (see above), as it will turn the blanket of Loose Grass into a blanket of Hay. You can then use a Windrower (above) to organize the Hay for collection.

Hay is not worth much more than Grass when sold, but is significantly more useful as a material. It provides a much higher Productivity when fed to Cows, and can be used as a component in Total Mixed Ration to achieve maximum Cow productivity.

However, when feeding Sheep, it is generally better to skip this step altogether, since Sheep gain the same productivity (100%) when fed with either Grass or Hay, so the extra step is superfluous.

Feeding

The only use for Grass is as food for Sheep and/or Cows. You can dump Loose Grass or a whole Grass Bale into the animals' feeding trough to put it into their storage area. The animals will automatically feed on the Grass, increasing their productivity value.

Grass has a different effect on each type of animal.

Sheep

Main article: Sheep (Farming Simulator 19)

When fed to Sheep, Grass provides the maximum Productivity value (90%). Grass and Hay give the same Productivity, so there is no point feeding Hay to sheep if Grass is available.

Grass and Hay fill the same storage inside the Sheep Pasture, and in fact any Hay placed into the pasture instantly turns back into Grass for all intents and purposes. You may store up to 500 liters of Grass inside the Sheep Pasture per Sheep.

As long as Grass (or Hay) is available, each Sheep consumes 50 liters of Grass per day, producing Wool and breeding at a rate that depends on the Pasture's current Cleanliness level. A small amount of Grass will be ejected from the pen onto the feeding area every 15 minutes, reducing the Cleanliness level over time. At 100% Cleanliness, the Pasture gets a 10% bonus to Productivity. You can clean the feeding area by collecting the spilled Grass and pouring it back into the feeding trough.

Cows

Main article: Cows (Farming Simulator 19)

When fed to Cows, Grass provides only 20% Productivity, which is the lowest productivity possible. You may store up to 800 liters of Grass inside the Cow Pasture per Cow.

While Grass is available, each Cow will consume 80 liters of Grass per day. If Water is also available, the Cows will also produce Milk and breed. You can increase productivity by a further 10% by also providing Straw to the Cows, and another 10% by keeping the pasture clean. A small amount of Grass will be ejected from the pen onto the feeding area every 15 minutes, reducing the Cleanliness level over time. At 100% Cleanliness, the Pasture gets a 10% bonus to Productivity. You can clean the feeding area by collecting the spilled Grass and pouring it back into the feeding trough.

Grass is only consumed if the cows have no other food to eat (e.g. Hay, Silage, or Total Mixed Ration), otherwise they will consume that food and leave the Grass untouched. Providing a different food also increases productivity by a significant amount.

NOTE: With just an extra step - turning Grass into Hay as described above - you can increase Cow productivity to a base of 60%. This is a huge advantage, and means that Grass should not be fed to Cows at all if you own a Tedder.

Selling

You can sell excess Grass at the Barn for a modest sum. Each liter of Grass sells for an average of $0.081 (on "Normal" economic difficulty), making it the second-cheapest material in the game (after Straw).

To sell Grass, simply dump it into the marked Sale Point at the Barn. It will disappear instantly as it touches the ground, adding the money into your account. Bales of grass are sold in the same way, by dropping them onto the ground at the sale point.

Profit Analysis

Growing Grass is a prerequisite for feeding Sheep and Cows, and in both cases its profitability increases to a huge degree - even when accounting for the work and additional materials required to run those animal industries.

As a sale crop, however, Grass is somewhat less profitable, though it also requires less work to process than most Crops - depending on which difficulty options you have enabled. This can seriously affect whether Grass is a viable sale product in your game.

	Grass	Wheat
Sowing and Cultivating	Only once.	Every harvest.
Extra Steps (if enabled)	Windrowing, Collecting	Plowing (only once), Weeding (every harvest), Liming (every 3 harvests).
Seed Costs per Hectare	$300 once.	$500 every harvest.
Other Materials	Fertilizer once every harvest.	Fertilizer twice every harvest. Lime every 3 harvests. (Optional) Herbicide every harvest.
Manual Steps (can't use Hired Worker)	Collecting	None
Average Profit per Hectare (fully tended, normal economy)	7,079	10,786

To produce Grass, you will need to process the field at least 3 times per harvest: Mowing, Windrowing and Collecting. Add to this a single Fertilizer pass to instantly double your yield. Cultivating and Sowing are not counted here, as they only needs to be performed once, after which you will never have to sow the grass again - saving a lot of money on Seeds. Grass also does not need Weeding nor Liming even if those settings are turned on - saving you even more money and effort.

By comparison, most crops require at least 5 steps: Cultivating, Sowing, Fertilizing twice, and Harvesting. Fortunately, many machines available in the game can perform at least two of these steps simultaneously (e.g. Cultivating, Sowing, and Fertilizing to 50%), reducing this to only 3 steps total. However, you may also need to Plow, Lime, and/or Weed your fields depending on which options you have turned on in the settings menu - potentially requiring at least 7.3 steps per harvest and increasing the amount of money paid for all the required materials.

Fertilized Grass should provide about $7,079 per hectare, which is around 33% less than Wheat or Barley. Again, if you have all the difficulty settings turned on, those regular crops will take many more steps to produce, and will require extra spending on Fertilizer, Lime, and/or Herbicide - whereas Grass requires only 4 steps at most and only one Fertilizer pass.

The bottom line is that if the additional steps (Lime, Weed, Plow) are turned on, Grass actually becomes a competitive product. Otherwise, the relatively low effort required to process it is not justified. The only exception is if you have Sheep or Cows to feed, in which case Grass is always profitable.