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Smart Feeding Troughs

Mod

Smart Feeding Troughs automatically feeds and breeds nearby animals in a natural and vanilla-friendly way.

Type

Mod

Modrinth Downloads

211

Modrinth ID

4dEFIhvD

Last Updated

May 22, 2026

Description

Smart Feeding Troughs

Smart Feeding Troughs automatically feeds and breeds nearby animals in a natural and vanilla-friendly way. Also adds an edible Hay Bale Block which allows wheat eating animals to feed directly from the bale.

Features

  • Supports both Fabric and NeoForge loaders
  • Shear a Hay Bale and animals that eat wheat can feed directly from the block 8 times.
  • Enforces a population cap and stops feeding once the cap is reached.
  • Animals feed only if a nearby eligible mate is also ready to breed, avoiding wasted food.
  • Works with any modded animal that extends the vanilla Animal class. Tested with Alex's Mobs.
  • Designed for maximum efficiency by minimizing expensive scanning.
  • Supports automated input through top and sides via vanilla hoppers.
  • Fully configurable, with command-line and UI options via Cloth Config and Mod Menu.

How to use:

To craft a Smart Trough you need any wooden slabs and planks, combine them in a crafting table and place the trough. Insert eligible food into the 4-slot inventory. i.e. wheat for cows, seeds for chickens, etc.

Future Plans

This mod is being actively developed and the following are the potential planned features and improvements:

  • Dynamic rendering of contents showing visual clue on how full the trough is.
  • Redstone support: disable via signal, comparator support
  • Debugging: visually indicate which animals are claimed by the trough
  • If troughs are adjacent, optionally change model to show one long trough (like a vanilla double chest)
  • Store XP so the player can collect it later (like a vanilla furnace)
  • Feed hurt animals so they heal.
  • Feed baby animals so they have a chance to grow faster.
  • Improved feeding animation or effects for visual feedback
  • Add all wood types
  • Config: allow per animal type settings
  • Config: whitelist/blacklist animals

Config Options

  • range: Maximum distance at which animals can be claimed by the trough. (Default: 16)
  • maxClaimedAnimals: Maximum number of animals each trough can claim. Add more troughs to increase the cap further. (Default: 24)
  • troughClaimCheckInterval: Number of ticks the trough waits before searching for more animals to claim. (Default: 600)
  • feedChance: Probability that an animal will feed when ready. This adds natural variation and can be set to 1.00 for a 100% chance. (Default: 0.25)

Changelog

1.1.0

  • Added Edible Hay Bale
  • Fixed bug where population cap could sometimes be significantly exceeded

License: MIT

Source: https://github.com/kingnhcomcast/Smart-Breeding-Troughs

Permissions: You are welcome to use this mod in your modpack. If you do, feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

If you want support for other minecraft versions or feature requests, leave a comment!

Enjoy!

Compatibility

Mod Loaders

Fabric Neoforge

Game Versions

1.21.1 1.21.11 26.1 26.1.1 26.1.2

Screenshots

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External Resources