taking care of animals: grazing or hay?

[tranquil knoll]

Hi all, apologies if this has been asked before. Been looking everywhere and can’t seem to find an answer. Anyone knows whether grazing animals to feef themselves outside is better or worse or same as feeding them hay indoors for animal hearts/happiness? Also, if we upgrade hay via essence (the bronze, silver, etc levels via the Lab) does that also apply to animals grazing outside feeding themselves or would we have to hand feed them the bronze hay?

[lavish steppe]

they are the same, usually if you already feed them with hay, they dont have to eat the grass outside. it doesnt matter which one they eat. they produce the same. altought, yeah by letting the animals out they would be happier and you would increase the heart faster
[dont let them out when its raning tho]
you can check which one they earing by checking the animal stats
if the grass logo is yellow then hay, green = grass

[tired folio]

I take this opportunity to ask something about it. In winter, obviously when it doesn't snow, can animals go out? Or do they get sad because it's cold?

[lavish steppe]

you can still let them out at winter i think, just not when its snowing. just make sure you also have a heater on winter (buy it from jack)

[tranquil knoll]

thank you! would you know if upgrading hay via lab also affects the quality of the grass they eat outside?

[lavish steppe]

Yeah the upgrade affect the grass outside too

[tranquil knoll]

yay thank you so much

[covert belfry]

So...here's a question. If you put hay in the feeder and also let your animals go outside to play in the pasture, will they sometimes leave the hay in the coop/barn uneaten?

I had a string of sunny days in mid-Spring where I was letting my birdies out of the coop first thing in the morning to roam around outside. Once I let them out, I usually go into the coop to collect eggs and put out new hay. Only, for several days, the hay was still there in the feeder. I didn't have to provide any. Then, I had a storm day when I didn't let them out. Next day, the feeder was empty and I could refill it.

I wasn't sure if this was a bug or a feature, but I figured someone in this channel would know.

[twin raft]

if you have grass on the farm and let the animals out, they'll eat the grass instead of the hay in the barn/coop!

[covert belfry]

NICE! That certainly helps in terms of making sure you've got enough hay to last the winter!