DF Gameplay Questions / Re: How do you butcher?
« on: October 02, 2006, 08:30:00 am »I tried this with one of my starting mules that had fallen to a Snakemen attack. I am pretty (but not 100%) sure this beast hadn't been a pet.
First, my starting setup: I always build an outside refuse pile and a Butcher's and Tanner's shop right beside that very early in each game. This reduces the hauling, as long as these are the only shops of their kind. 
After said Snakeman attack, I left the poor dead mule alone for a while, checking periodically whether it had started to rot (that took a very long time). I was aware that the jobs for butchery should eb sheduled automatically, but probably not of the advanced ways to check whether anything was to be done about the corpse. Specifically, I don't think I looked at the jobs queue but am certain that no automatic 'butcher animal' job was created in the Butcher's shop.
I tried the trick of creating a refuse stockpile under the corpse. Still no job in the shop created... When I removed that stockpile designation, the corpse was eventually transfered to the main refuse pile where it eventually rotted, then decayed.
I tried to create the 'Butcher an Animal' job several times during each of the above stages, all to no avail.
Of course I always had a butcher/tanner. I eventually assigned that job combination to more dwarves, but the first use I got out of my 'Corpse processing near refuse stockpile' setup was when my two hunters (who doubled as butchers/tanners) began to bring back their kills.
Their work routine was serously disrupted when I set up a second Refuse/Butcher/Tanner setup within the fortress. I had cases where the kill was hauled to the outside Butcher's, from there to the outside refuse pile and finally to the inside Butcher's shop for processing.
[ October 02, 2006: Message edited by: sbach2o ]