Stardew Valley: Build a Silo and Store Enough Hay for Winter

A silo stores hay for animals in coops and barns. Order it from Robin. It needs a three-by-three-tile space, 100 gold, 100 stone, ten clay and five copper bars. Construction takes two days.

Store and Feed Hay

1. Build the silo before clearing a large area of grass with your scythe. Without available silo capacity, that hay harvest does not automatically go into storage.
2. Cut grass on the farm with a scythe. The regular scythe has a 50 percent chance to produce hay per cut, the Golden Scythe 75 percent and the Iridium Scythe 100 percent.
3. Check the stock directly at the silo. With several silos, the display shows the combined quantity and total capacity.
4. Take hay from the hopper in a coop or barn and fill the feeding bench. The hopper works regardless of the silo’s distance.

You can also put hay from your inventory directly into the silo or hopper. Harvesting wheat produces hay as well, but it initially enters your inventory and is not automatically part of the silo stock.

Is One Silo Enough for Winter?

The wiki calculates 26 hay per animal for a regular winter, because animals do not consume feed on two festival days. A full silo therefore covers nine animals. A full Deluxe Coop and Deluxe Barn with 24 animals in total need more than one silo.

Since 1.6, outdoor grass survives the start of winter. It is dormant, however, and yields less hay when cut. Older advice claiming that all grass disappears on the first winter day no longer accurately describes this version.

Fill storage during autumn where possible and check your actual animal count. Each additional silo increases capacity by 240. Hay kept in a chest is a reserve, but must be moved into the feeding system in time.