Automated breeding with feeder

[baw179]

Hi,

I'm trying to automate the breeding of my cows using a feeder so I can eventually get a tier 5 shard, but I'm having two issues :

a. if the pen is too big then I get problems with them eating all the wheat but not breeding because they're too far away from a suitable mate.

b. if I make the pen smaller then I have to nanny it more as they start despawning after breeding due to the cramped space.

I thought I'd try the old vanilla method by raising a couple of cows up in carts and penning them there with the feeder in between. This works well while you're logged in but the moment you re-log the cows decide that they've had enough of sitting in carts and return themselves to terrafirma (as pictured).

Ultimately what I'm trying to achieve is have a pair cows penned next to the feeder all the time with the calves dropping down to the ground when they're produced. I've tried penning the cows with fences and such like but the problem then is that the calves "spawn" into the same 1x1 enclosure with the breeder cows and once you get a few of them they start despawning again due to being too cramped.

Have any of you guys found a better solution?

 

[Geometry]

I really can't find a good design to implement either, so the best I got was a 5x5 fenced in area with the feeder in the middle raised up a block. I do know that it is inefficient , but I have yet to stumble upon a good system to use the breeder with. Besides, its fine for me because I just occasionally go there to find around 15 cows which is more than enough for me.However, I suggest you take some time on your own and breed the cows manually if you intend to get a t5 spawner since not only is it much quicker but it's more efficient. You can get quite a number of cows within an hour of breeding.

 

[bob marley]

i use the bridge tracks...forget the name but they can have a space under them the cows sit in there a bit better and i had it chunk loaded...elevated tracks i think but not elevator tracks

 

[baw179]

i use the bridge tracks...forget the name but they can have a space under them the cows sit in there a bit better and i had it chunk loaded...elevated tracks i think but not elevator tracks

Yeah I know the ones you mean, are they called suspended rails or something? But more importantly, do the cows stay in the carts on those or do they hop out when you re-log? By the way you make an interesting comment about the chunk being loaded. I wonder if that's the problem? Is there a known issue for animals leaving carts when the chunk goes unloaded? If so that is easily fixed.

@ Geometry, yeah I could do it like that but there's a bug/glitch where they keep taking more wheat until they actually produce a calf, so you can wind up wasting a ton of wheat on ones you've already clicked on.

 

[IndigoStarfish]

If you have ComputerCraft and MiscPeripherals, make a turtle with a Feeding Upgrade -- You'll need a couple of lines of code, but it is very simple.
From my experience, the cows won't despawn when overcrowded using this method.