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[shadowclasper]

I kinda realized, it doesn't really make much sense for dwarves to have the same kinds of live stock as other races does it? Cows? Horses? In the mountains? Goats would make more sense.

Ideas:
Giant Rats (ah-la Discworld)
Bats

I've got no other ideas other than this >_>; maybe bears in place of dogs?

[Pilsu]

Not much in the way of grazers or other livestock in caverns. Eating moles seems a bit forced.

I don't see why humans wouldn't have goats.

[Os Q]

Here's what I imagine: Goats, pigs, and sheep as the main livestock, maybe cats and dogs as the emergency food supply (cats can live off the vermin in the caves, dogs are a bit too useful)

Pigs are omnivores and (I think) eat pretty much anything people can. Dwarf feed their scraps to them and the dogs. Pigs also root around for roots, grubs, and mushrooms in the soil layers.

From what I've heard, goats are not picky eaters and could probably eat the shrubs that grow near mountainhomes. For some perspective, I heard that goats don't eat cans, they eat the PAPER and the GLUE off of cans.

[Fossaman]

I'd like to see bats as livestock. Bat milk for the win!

[NW_Kohaku]

Actually, I'm kind of wondering why we have "plump helmets", "pig tails", "quarrey bushes", and even above-ground crops like "longland grass", or "rope reed", which are basically all fictional crops (if grounded in some real ones, and wild strawberries are certainly real), but we have to use by and large real animals.

Why are we calling a Rabbit a Smeerp for plants, but not animals?  Purring maggots and cave spiders are a good start, too.

If we have underground ecology now, why not have some cave animals that are actual livestock?  We could have some nice blind, albino geckos, or some foraging boar-like animals to replace dogs. 

[dakenho]

you have a good point, bears, or cave bears fit in nicely, having the other animals available make since due to trade and common availability but having a more lore based live stock animal makes since.  Cave crock would work well, but have limited usability though there high breeding rate seems to make them like chickens, bats are a bit much and I do not think other cultures like humans would trade for bat milk/cheese.

[Nikov]

I would like sheep, goats and pigs in their pastures, scrubland and muddy wallows respectively. Sheep can be taken to a farmer's workshop to produce wool, goats can be milked, and pigs just produce more valuable meat. I've already modded in sheep and tried having 'sheep silk', but never could get them to create webs.

[NW_Kohaku]

I would like sheep, goats and pigs in their pastures, scrubland and muddy wallows respectively. Sheep can be taken to a farmer's workshop to produce wool, goats can be milked, and pigs just produce more valuable meat. I've already modded in sheep and tried having 'sheep silk', but never could get them to create webs.

From the devlog:

Bloat58, MORE LIVESTOCK, (Future): Livestock. Use of feathers. Use of wool. Various eggs and nests. Dwarves should hate eating plants all the time.

I'd really like to push for this to be implimented soon, though.  It shouldn't be hard at all to impliment, really.  You just need to change the way that milking works to be a more general-purpose function.

If you make milking (which would probably require a more general name) produce any kind of material, instead of always producing a cookable liquid, you could have the same code produce milk, eggs, feathers, and wool.  Plus, you could allow for wacky things for modders to play with, like having Magmacows that you can milk for obsidian stones.

[Pilsu]

You don't jam your hand into a hen's ass to extract eggs.

I don't much care for bats myself. They don't produce nearly enough milk to make good livestock. Their continued use despite better alternatives would threaten suspension of disbelief.

As for smeerps, plants probably get a unique name because they do not need to be identifiable. Rabbits being renamed is jarring whereas longland grass isn't. Personally I'd get rid of the strawberries if anything, they feel out of place. Hamfisting in new animals or arbitrarily limiting dwarves to only a portion of the livestock variety would add little in the way of flavor.

[zwei]

As for smeerps, plants probably get a unique name because they do not need to be identifiable. Rabbits being renamed is jarring whereas longland grass isn't. Personally I'd get rid of the strawberries if anything, they feel out of place. Hamfisting in new animals or arbitrarily limiting dwarves to only a portion of the livestock variety would add little in the way of flavor.

Funny, I have exactly opposite feeling about plants. If there is actual existing equivalent, it should have real world name per typical fantasy where mundane crops usually have non-smeerp name.

Longland grass? It could as well be wheat...
Rope Reed? You KNOW it is Hemp.

[NW_Kohaku]

You don't jam your hand into a hen's ass to extract eggs.

Technically, birds have cloacas, so it would be the right oriface to go fishing for such things.

Regardless, while it may be more realistic for the eggs to just fall out of a chicken (preferably a non-caged chicken that needs to graze, or at least a caged chicken that needs food, so that you're not just cramming 50 chickens into a single cage that spontaniously overflows with eggs with no upkeep), making the farmer heft the chicken, take it to the farmer's workplace, hold the chicken in the right way and shake it until the egg falls out would at least let it use the same streamlined mechanic that would let milking, shearing, and egg-gathering a fairly quick and easy coding job that wouldn't be too much to ask of Toady.

Hamfisting in new animals or arbitrarily limiting dwarves to only a portion of the livestock variety would add little in the way of flavor.

I'm not saying we bar dwarves from having dogs.  I'm saying that we already have subterranean ecologies with subterranean crops, and it only makes sense that a subterranean race has livestock adapted for subterranean life.

Besides, it would be fairly unique to offer an alternative to cats with geckos that whip vermin with their sticky tongues, alternative dogs with cave boars, and maybe a giant mole or a land worm or something for an underground pack animal. 

[Foehamster]

From what I've heard, goats are not picky eaters and could probably eat the shrubs that grow near mountainhomes. For some perspective, I heard that goats don't eat cans, they eat the PAPER and the GLUE off of cans.

Goats are well suited to live in the mountains (mountain-goats anyone?)  And yes they do chew pretty much anything they can get their mouth around, pigs are similar in that respect.

[Foehamster]

Longland grass? It could as well be wheat...

Or barely, or rye, or oats, or some wheatlike variety.

Rope Reed? You KNOW it is Hemp.

Possibly, except hemp isn't a reed.  Milkweed and Flax are plant fiber sources that are much more closely related to reeds.

[Pilsu]

Regardless, while it may be more realistic for the eggs to just fall out of a chicken (preferably a non-caged chicken that needs to graze, or at least a caged chicken that needs food, so that you're not just cramming 50 chickens into a single cage that spontaniously overflows with eggs with no upkeep), making the farmer heft the chicken, take it to the farmer's workplace, hold the chicken in the right way and shake it until the egg falls out would at least let it use the same streamlined mechanic that would let milking, shearing, and egg-gathering a fairly quick and easy coding job that wouldn't be too much to ask of Toady.

You forget that wild birds need to be able to lay eggs too. It's a good placeholder but it must not be a permanent measure.

I'm not saying we bar dwarves from having dogs.  I'm saying that we already have subterranean ecologies with subterranean crops, and it only makes sense that a subterranean race has livestock adapted for subterranean life.

Besides, it would be fairly unique to offer an alternative to cats with geckos that whip vermin with their sticky tongues, alternative dogs with cave boars, and maybe a giant mole or a land worm or something for an underground pack animal. 

Why would a boar live in a cave? Moles aren't predatory and worms are too stupid to control. As is, there are no good cavey alternatives, hence the hamfisting. As for lizards, they'd freeze to death underground. There's a reason they climb on those sunny rocks you know. I'm not that averse to replacing cats overall though, some cave critters are capable of sort of filling that slot. They just might be considered unsavory, such as cat-sized spiders. Not sure they'd want to keep those over cats.


Foehamster covered the crops pretty nicely. Besides, renaming them is real easy. Not too many of them in the game. Wonder what I should call the strawberries..

[atomfullerene]

honestly, when you have quarry bushes (with LEAVES!) growing under-ground without light I think worrying about thermoregulation in lizards is a bit much.  And besides, most geckos are nocturnal and don't really bask in the first place.  I think it would be a good idea to give dwarves livestock themed to their lifestyle, although they should have a fair amount of overlap with humans in this area.  If nothing else, it makes sense for dwarves to prefer appropriately sized livestock (ponies instead of horses, goats and sheep instead of cows).  But they should be able to use (if not necessarily ride) all kinds of things