RimWorld – How to Butcher Animals

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With more and more pawns joining your colony in RimWorld, you will inevitably find yourself in need of more sources of food.

Getting berries and raising crops is not enough to keep you colonists happy, especially the ones that prefer meat.

Recommended Read: What Is the Optimal Room Size in RimWorld?

So, you will have to kill and butcher a few animals here and there, even if you don’t want to. You would just be wasting resources otherwise.

Here is how you can butcher animals in RimWorld and start feeding your pawns proper meals.


Table of contents


How to Butcher Animals in RimWorld

There are two things you will need to butcher animals in RimWorld: a butcher table (or spot) and an animal carcass.

Making Sure You Have an Animal to Butcher

If you are looking for ways to butcher an animal in RimWorld, then you probably already have an animal carcass at hand.

You will need to make sure that you allow your pawns to interact with the dead animal since they are usually restricted when you first kill them.

You can do this by pressing “U” on your keyboard and then clicking on the dead animal. One can tell if the animal is restricted if there is a small red “X” on it.

All animals that you kill without using the hunt or slaughter command will be restricted. So, make sure to allow your pawns to interact with them.

You will also find random animals that have been killed by other carnivores around the map, and those will also be restricted.

Preparing the Butcher Table/Spot in RimWorld

Now, you need a place to butcher the animal. All you need to do is follow these steps:

  1. Click on the Architect option in the bottom left corner of the screen.
  2. Click the Production option.
  3. If you have the necessary materials (at least 95 wood), build the Butcher Table. Otherwise, select the Butcher Spot and place it anywhere (preferably inside a building).

You now have a place to butcher the animal carcass. Not only can you butcher animals here, but you can also make special food for your docile animals here.

How to Butcher the Animal in RimWorld

You will now have to select the Butcher Table/Spot and click the “Bills” button that appears in the lower left half of the screen.

Here, you will need to select the “Add bill” option and then the “Butcher creature” bill.

The best way to make sure that your pawns will always butcher animals that are not restricted is to press the “Do X times” option next to the bill and then change it to “Do forever.”

Now, any pawn in RimWorld that has the Handle job enabled will also butcher any animal carcass that isn’t restricted.

You can hurry up the process by selecting the pawn you want to butcher the animal with, right-clicking the animal, and selecting the “prioritize butchering” option.


That’s everything you need to know about how to butcher animals in RimWorld!

Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.

Adrian Oprea

Based in London, United Kingdom, Adrian Oprea is a Guides Writer. As a professional single-player RPG player, Adrian has often been stigmatized. He has decided to pour his frustration into writing guides!

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