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Stardew Valleyhas various crafting tools to enhance the quality of produce and artisan goods. However, gathering eggs from coops and milking cows and goats can eat up your precious time. You can cut back on morning/daily chores with the Auto-Grabber item. ByStardew Valley’s Year 2, you should have a high enough Farming Skill to unlock the Auto-Grabber. There’s a small drawback to the Auto-Grabber, but otherwise, it’s worth the investment, especially if you have more than two barns/coops.
Where to Find Auto-Grabber
Marnie’s Ranch
Once you reachFarming Level 10, you’ll receivea letter in the mail from Marniementioning the Auto-Grabber. As its name implies, this item will automatically gather animal products from barns and coops. Clicking on the Auto-Grabber opens up a “storage” similar to chests. Here, any product that your animal has will appear in the Auto-Grabber. If there are items to be collected, the Auto-Grabber’s center will be filled/white.
You can buy as many Auto-Grabbers as you like, but you only need one per building. The cost for one Auto-Grabber is25000g. Marnie’s Ranch is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but there are some exceptions to her schedule.
You can enter Marnie’s house from9:00am-6:00pm, but her store hours are9:00am-4:00pm. If you have the Island Resort open, then Marnie could go to Ginger Island for the day. This includes on Rainy Days, which she will work regardless if it’s Monday/Tuesday. Specifically, if it’s Monday and raining, Marnie will divert from her Monday schedule to run the shop from 9-4pm. However, if she decides to go to the island, then the shop will remain closedeven though it’s raining.
9:00am
[Store is unavailable.]
4:00pm
Closes shop.
If you have the Animal Catalogue, you can buy animals/products from Marnie’s Ranch even if she’s not there.
Is the Auto-Grabber Worth Getting?
Pros & Cons of Auto-Grabber
The Auto-Grabber is a great tool to have for your farm and highly recommended for mid-late game. However, you won’t get the +5 friendship points that you would normally get from milking/shearing your animals. You also don’t gain any Farming experience by using Auto-Grabbers, but you’re able to only get the Auto-Grabber when you reach Farming Level 10. This means it won’t matter if you miss out on some Farming experience by the time you unlock the Auto-Grabber.
You will want tokeep up your animals' friendship levels. You can do this by getting the Auto-Petter (1.6 update) or petting the animals every day. The higher the friendship level, the higher the quality of animal products. A dissatisfied animal won’t produce any milk/eggs.
