Domesticated Animal Herding Mechanic Specific Suggestion

[WildEwok]

I know that the ability to move farm animals is an oft requested one and I am *so* excited for the basket mechanic coming in 1.19. However I still have a need to separate my adult animals, either for generation or by sex, to optimize the feed trough and where the feed is going. I have an idea!! Since chickens will fit into the basket, I mostly just need to move pigs and sheep through my handling system that I've made with fences and gates. Here's Sandi Brock, a sheep farmer in Ontario- she uses gates to help move her sheep around the barn: https://youtu.be/KiKpN22T_dI?si=PGiFBk9oNpThvMRG&t=1316 Starting at the time stamp in the video, you can see the size gate she uses.

So far, all our herding mechanics include passive- fear, and active- smacking them. The fear is good for moving away, but the active is just so inconvenient, and moves them towards me, and I want to be behind them. And the passive mechanic is slow and unwieldy, and even my gen 0 pigs only just amble a little bit and then wander back to me.

I suggest being able to hold a cattle panel fence in our off-hand like a shield, and when we shift-click and walk with it, it cues the animals to move away from us. If we need this to stay in a certain age, like copper or beyond, the panel could be made with board fencing only, or there could be a specific recipe like two fences joined with nails and strips to form a wider one. I believe that implementation should be fairly simple, since it has a cue and the desired action is only "run away from the player," which they clearly do when they reach low enough health, and chickens do all the time. I believe this will also pair very nicely with the "act in herds" wish on the roadmap.