Iron Golems out now in the 3.02 version of Thaumcraft (In Testing in the new Direwolf/Mindcrack packs), be aware that additional research is required for the golems to drop XP.
Ye plus a visor is also required it seems (knowledge fragments). I've built the basic design, so far I have a T4 cow shard, have to grind the other 2...not so easy, as cows seem to the most numerous in my world.
However can prob skip the pigs if not bothered by meat treats. Cows for leather and Chickens for feathers is my main need anyway, Mystcraft books etc.
Those 2 plus a sugar cane farm and auto-crafting books and pump the excess garbage into a recycler.