How often to feed the Wolves in my Dung Farm?

[TheAnarchitect]

I'm currently putting together my dung farm in my new world, and I'm wondering what the ideal timing is for feeding the wolves. In my previous world I had them on a 5 minute timer, but I'm wondering if feeding them more frequently would result in superior output. What are your experiences?

[Zipacna]

Hi, why dont feed them at each production of dung ?

[TheAnarchitect]

Because then I have to babysit it. I can't think of a way to detect when a wolf shits automatically off the top of my head.

[Gainspipr]

I can think of a way to detect shit into a Detector and automatically feeding wolves via a pully elevator (just like the one iv'e seen somewhere here)

[TaterBoy]

One way I've seen it done is this: If you have the room at just the right size of square, flood the water from one corner to the other, put a hopper in the downstream corner, a detector block over the hopper so it sees when dung flows past and into the hopper, triggering your meat dispenser/s

I haven't tried it yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

[Sandrew]

I simply use two decay-timers linked up to eachother with one outputting to four dispensers. Every ten minutes my dispensers dispense some juicy, rotten meat. Not 100% efficient, but I do have over two stacks of dung by now.

[badmojo98]

another option is to fill your hopper with bricks except for one slot. when dung goes into the hopper and fills the last slot, it will start sending a redstone signal. use this to turn on mechanical power to the hopper, ejecting the dung below, and also send the signal to a dispenser with food in it. nice and easy and can be done fairly early in the tech tree. the bricks cannot be passed out of the hopper, so there will never be more than one slot open, and when the dung is gone, the redstone signal will stop.

[PsyJester]

another option is to fill your hopper with bricks except for one slot. when dung goes into the hopper and fills the last slot, it will start sending a redstone signal. use this to turn on mechanical power to the hopper, ejecting the dung below, and also send the signal to a dispenser with food in it. nice and easy and can be done fairly early in the tech tree. the bricks cannot be passed out of the hopper, so there will never be more than one slot open, and when the dung is gone, the redstone signal will stop.

i've used this solution several times and its by far the fastest and easiest to use because you never ever have too look at them ever. just keep that dispenser full of meat.

[embirrim]

Alternatively, use a item-decay timer. 5 minutes, it's about the right time for dogs to poop. I'm currently using detector blocks, and they seem to sometimes jam up, especially on world loading.

[redrew89]

There is a clever 3 block device I found that works well for this:

[*] = Downward-facing Lens
[^] = Upward-facing DB
[#] = Buddy
__ = Redstone wire

[*]
[^][#]_______<to feeding dispensers>

The lens focuses sunlight onto the detector block. At sunset and sunrise, the detector block changes state, causing the Buddy to pulse. You can also use a simple BD counter to increase the number of intervals between feedings. The downside is that weather can interfere, causing over-feeding, and sleeping at night can also cause food waste. However, if you have a breeding farm set up, this shouldn't be a major problem. There is a possibility that any timer would potentially waste food, given the random nature of dung production.

[Marasambala]

A wooden pressure plate placed on top of a fence will allow an item to trigger the plate and then drop through. Just make sure the fence is adjacent to a non-solid block so it doesn't connect. One dung = one pulse for food.

[SterlingRed]

One way I've seen it done is this: If you have the room at just the right size of square, flood the water from one corner to the other, put a hopper in the downstream corner, a detector block over the hopper so it sees when dung flows past and into the hopper, triggering your meat dispenser/s

I haven't tried it yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

I've used this method before and it works quite well! I've found using redstone torches in the signal from the detector back to the dispensor actually introduces just enough delay that it doesn't work. Same with a lens. Using a signal stabalizer circuit solves the issue and dung production
proceeds at 100% efficiency.

[TheAnarchitect]

So aside from setting up a detector system, feeding more often than once every 5 minutes would just be a waste of meat?

[SterlingRed]

So aside from setting up a detector system, feeding more often than once every 5 minutes would just be a waste of meat?

Yes.

[DreamsofFury]

I just used a standard 5 minute pressure plate item decay timer, I waste maybe 2 meat per 5 feedings.

Tested by going in a corner facing the dogs and kicking on my record and going to sleep. Watched the recording at x5 speed and counted how many times a meat sat there, usually a dog shit and ate the early meat and shit again before the timer even went off for another feed.

[SterlingRed]

I just used a standard 5 minute pressure plate item decay timer, I waste maybe 2 meat per 5 feedings.

Tested by going in a corner facing the dogs and kicking on my record and going to sleep. Watched the recording at x5 speed and counted how many times a meat sat there, usually a dog shit and ate the early meat and shit again before the timer even went off for another feed.

You could have just written down how much meat was in the bd when you started and when you ended and compared that to how many dung you got to find out how efficient your feeding was.

[Tropa]

On my BTW world, I have a somewhat of a automated Dung farm.
I have 4 wolves a floating platform, its walled in with water flowing into a hole, Once the dung passes through the dector-block a redstone signal is sent to a Dispenser to which the meat is throwen onto the platform with the wolves.

I'll post Pictures later.


One thing to truly make this automated is theres a Auto chicken/cow/pig farm connecting to the dispenser.

[PsyJester]

just so its clear the rate at which dogs eat and poo is kinda random and to have a timer if fine but it won't be 100% efficient time wise it may be 100% food wise. this is because if the dog poos then he is ready to eat and if you wait for the lets say 5 min timer that could 3 minutes your dog is whining to be feed again. so timer may work but you can't say its optimal.

[rhacer]

I have about 10 wolves and I have a dispenser toss in two pieces of rotten flesh every 5 minutes or so.

It seems to work pretty well. I don't have huge stacks of dung lying around but I currently have more tanned leather than I know what to do with.

[DreamsofFury]

I just used a standard 5 minute pressure plate item decay timer, I waste maybe 2 meat per 5 feedings.

Tested by going in a corner facing the dogs and kicking on my record and going to sleep. Watched the recording at x5 speed and counted how many times a meat sat there, usually a dog shit and ate the early meat and shit again before the timer even went off for another feed.

You could have just written down how much meat was in the bd when you started and when you ended and compared that to how many dung you got to find out how efficient your feeding was.

I could have but due to a minor misplace on my part that I am way too lazy to fix sometimes the dung lands on another pad or hits this dead zone in the water now and then or even shoots through a wall, so I figured, why not just record it :D

[Tropa]

On my BTW world, I have a somewhat of a automated Dung farm.
I have 4 wolves a floating platform, its walled in with water flowing into a hole, Once the dung passes through the dector-block a redstone signal is sent to a Dispenser to which the meat is throwen onto the platform with the wolves.

I'll post Pictures later.


One thing to truly make this automated is theres a Auto chicken/cow/pig farm connecting to the dispenser.

As Promised.





This works, When ever I check it, I usually come back with a stack or so of dung.
Keep in mind that the food might miss the platform and fall into the water... and check the dispenser every so often!
Hope this helps!

[Graphite]

My last farm was pretty much the same design as Tropa's. I rather liked the fact that wolves got fed the moment they crapped, but unfortunately that design doesn't scale particularly well (other than just building another one next to it). So I started experimenting and this is my current setup:

Spoiler

Show

Once I've enclosed it, I'll put a detector at the bottom where the dung comes out and a dispenser at the top that'll get triggered whenever some dung goes past the detector. The waterflow should carry the meat down slowly enough that the wolves will have time to eat it (I'm sorta running on the assumption that only the wolf that crapped will eat some meat, but a quick test-run on creative made me nervous. I tossed in 64 meat for 16 wolves and only 33 meat came back out at the bottom).

There's a tiny chance that two pieces of dung will pass the detector at the same time, so I was going to hook up a timer as well to toss in an extra piece of meat from time to time. If they don't eat it, it'll just be filtered out at the bottom and be transported back up. Technically I could just set up a continuous stream of meat and it'd work just fine without the detector :P

P.S. Yes, getting them onto the spiral is complete hell. Took me about three in-game days for just 16 wolves.

[SterlingRed]

@Graphite Damn that's clever. I had exactly the same issue, 4 wolves fed by one block in the center when dung is detected doesn't stack well. I considered platform delivery to a stack of wolves but it wasn't an optimal solution as it could get behind without adding a memory bank and such to account for detcted dung while platform was already on the move. Simply free falling the food is too fast, it never occurred to me to use a water tower to slow it down.

I'll definitely consider this in future dung farms. +1 for this. Prime example of good engineering right there. Conceptually simple, yet perfectly functional.

[Graphite]

Keep in mind that it's still mostly untested, so use that design at your own risk :P

[Husbag3]

The wolves must have been a pain to get there in the first place.