Raise Animals in Agricola
Agricola is a board game about farming which shot to the top of the charts in 2008. While there are various things to do on the farm, one of the trickier things to do well is to raise animals. In order to do this, you'll need to make space for your animals and hopefully have enough to breed. It's not always easy, but it's doable with planning.
Instructions
1. Take lots of wood early in the game. This is good advice generally, but doubly so if you plan on an animal-based strategy.
2. Check your hand for any Occupation or Improvement cards that may assist you with creating fences, such as Stable Master, Hedge Keeper or Mini Pasture. Play any of these if you have them. You may also wish to play livestock cards such as Sheep Whisperer or Cattle Whisperer. Keep in mind that these will only be useful if you get fences built in time.
3. Build a pasture! You'll want at least 6 wood before starting a pasture, although 10 to 12 is ideal. A pasture that covers two squares is your bare minimum requirement. 8 wood will let you build a 2 by 2 pasture (2 fences on each side) that can hold 8 animals of a single type. That can then be converted into smaller pastures later. More than that will allow you to build bigger pastures. Just make sure you have at least two squares of fenced pasture.
4. Grab your livestock. Sheep are the first livestock available unless you're in a game with many people. Try to play a worker on the sheep card when it has at least three sheep on it. Place them all in your pasture. Two sheep just before a harvest round is also acceptable.
5. Breed livestock during harvest rounds. As long as you have more than two of any type of animal, you get an extra animal of that type during each harvest round. You can either save the extras for more points, or you can cook them as food.
6. Buy a fireplace or cooking hearth. You will need one to transform your animals into food. If you plan on focusing on sheep, a Fireplace is a cheaper investment. If you plan on having lots of pigs or cows, you will want a Cooking Hearth.
7. Be sure to build extra space to house your growing animals. Fencing more pastures is a good way to do this. Yet, if you already have four pastures, you may find that building stables is a cheaper alternative. Each stable placed in a pasture doubles its capacity.
Tags: Animals Agricola, harvest round, Raise Animals Agricola, your animals