Auto-Grabber
| Auto-Grabber | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Tool |
| Sold By | Marnie's Ranch |
| Cost | 25000g |
The Auto-Grabber is the machine that ends the morning round of the animal buildings. Dropped inside a Barn it draws milk from every cow and goat and takes the Wool off every sheep, and inside a Coop it collects whatever the birds have left on the floor. Marnie puts it on sale once Farming hits level ten, and it is priced as the luxury item she calls it in her letter. Everything it gathers sits inside it like a chest until somebody comes to empty it, so a day missed costs nothing. The one real drawback is that machine-collected produce builds no friendship, which is why an Auto-Petter usually arrives soon after.
Use
Placing one on the floor of a Barn or a Coop is all the setup there is. Each morning it empties the building of produce by itself, including Ostrich Eggs in a Barn and the full range of Coop products.
Opening it shows the haul. It behaves like a chest and holds a good number of stacks, so several days of produce can sit inside without anything being lost. An empty one cannot be opened at all, which is the quickest way to tell whether the animals produced overnight.
Placement is loose but only one spot works. The machine can be set down anywhere on the farm, and it simply does nothing outside a Barn or Coop. Taking one back up needs a tool struck against it, since clicking and holding will not shift it.
Several are allowed. Once the shop unlocks it, as many can be bought as the bank allows, so each building on a big farm can have its own.
The letter from Marnie arrives the day after Farming level ten is reached. Reading it is a courtesy rather than a requirement, as the machine appears on her shelf as soon as the level lands.
Upgrades
There are no tiers to this machine and no visits to the Blacksmith. It arrives finished.
What pairs with it is the Auto-Petter, and the two are best thought of as one purchase in two parts. Produce taken by the grabber earns none of the friendship points that hand milking or hand shearing would, and no Farming experience or Mastery points either. On its own that means an animal below full hearts climbs more slowly, and an animal nobody touches at all slides backwards, since friendship drops when a day passes with no attention.
An Auto-Petter in the same building closes the gap. It pets every animal daily, which stops the slide and keeps mood high, so the grabber can take the produce without the herd souring. A Barn fitted with both runs itself.
A Skull Cavern treasure room occasionally holds an Auto-Grabber, which is a pleasant surprise rather than a plan. The shop is the reliable route.
Notes
The sensible order is hand work first, automation second. Hearts decide produce quality, so building a herd up to full hearts by hand and then handing the job over keeps the good output without the daily walk.
Deluxe buildings cover the other half of the chore. A Deluxe Barn or Deluxe Coop feeds its animals from the Silo automatically, so a building with a Deluxe upgrade, an Auto-Grabber and an Auto-Petter only needs a visit to empty the machine.
Opinion on whether it is worth the price turns on scale. For a single Barn and a single Coop the walk round is short and the gold is better spent elsewhere. Once several buildings are full, the usual advice is one grabber per building, bought as the money allows rather than ahead of other investments.
All Tools
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
| Name | Image | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced Iridium Rod | 
|
25000g |
| Auto-Grabber | 
|
25000g |
| Auto-Petter | 
|
50000g |
| Axes | - | - |
| Bamboo Pole | 
|
500g |
| Fiberglass Rod | 
|
1800g |
| Golden Scythe | 
|
- |
| Hay Hopper | 
|
- |
| Heater | 
|
2000g |
| Hoes | - | - |
| Incubator | 
|
- |
| Iridium Rod | 
|
7500g |
| Iridium Scythe | 
|
- |
| Milk Pail | 
|
1000g |
| Pans | - | - |
| Pickaxes | - | - |
| Scythe | 
|
- |
| Shears | 
|
1000g |
| Training Rod | 
|
25g |
| Trash Cans | - | - |
| Watering Cans | - | - |