Mini Goats & Sheep keep running away from my unplayed household

@SmartAss_Loser I'm wondering a few things...

• When you said you tried to hire a ranch hand, can you clarify what you mean by that it hasn't worked? Were you unable to hire the ranch hand, or is the ranch hand showing up but not taking care of the goats and sheep? A hired ranch hand should in-and-of-themselves keep the goats and sheep well cared for... I suppose unless there are too many animals on the lot for the ranch hand to take care of alone?
• As mentioned above, the number of animals (especially horses and foals) you can maintain on the ranch, even with a ranch hand there all day, will need to be proportional to how well you and your Sims can manage them. Start small and feel out what your limitations are, and only keep as many on the ranch as you can handle well.
• It seems to help if you both add wild grass to the lot and have the 'Wild Prairie Grass' lot trait, as my horses did feed themselves somewhat autonomously at those growing grass places. That didn't work for all of their feeding, but some of it.
• Caring for foals is touchy business, and you have to really keep an eye on it.
• Do you have Mods or CC?
  
  Spoiler

  Exit the game. Move the Mods folder from your "The Sims 4" folder [Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4] to your desktop (save it for reference) and delete the localthumbcache.package file in your “The Sims 4” folder. Then check in a new game save to see if this issue is still occurring. You can test without saving in order to identify which CC/Mods are causing the issue. Then remove or add updated version(s) of the Mod/CC causing the issue.
• Is your game fully updated? (There were some issues with ranch hands at first that got fixed in a patch.)
  
  Spoiler

  How to update your game:
  • open Origin
  • click ‘Game Library’
  • right-click Sims 4 > Update Game.
• You could try a game repair.
  
  Spoiler

  How to run a game repair:
  • In Origin (EA App), click ‘Game Library’ (or "My Collection"), then right-click Sims 4 (or look under the three dots), and choose Repair Game (or 'Repair')
  • Let it run until it has completed all repairs. It will do the base game first, then run through each of your DLCs (Expansion Packs, Game Packs, Stuff Packs and Kits).

Hi @SmartAss_Loser 

To clarify, you're talking about playing one household (the daughter), and as you play her household, you get messages that the animals belonging to the household you aren't playing (the father) are being taken away for inadequate care?

It seems unusual that any messages would pop up for a household you weren't playing at the time.

Is it possible that by mistake the animals ended up in the daughter's household inventory when she moved out?

Do you mean that you are playing the two households in rotation, and when you switch back to the father's house, the messages pop up?

Or do the popups appear when you are playing the daughter and visiting the father's home lot? There are ongoing issues with baby care and other caretaking actions not working properly in that situation.

@mightyspritesims 

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@mightyspritesims wrote:

Hi @SmartAss_Loser 

To clarify, you're talking about playing one household (the daughter), and as you play her household, you get messages that the animals belonging to the household you aren't playing (the father) are being taken away for inadequate care?

It seems unusual that any messages would pop up for a household you weren't playing at the time.

Is it possible that by mistake the animals ended up in the daughter's household inventory when she moved out?

Do you mean that you are playing the two households in rotation, and when you switch back to the father's house, the messages pop up?

Or do the popups appear when you are playing the daughter and visiting the father's home lot? There are ongoing issues with baby care and other caretaking actions not working properly in that situation.

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I'm playing the daughter's household and the animals are owned by the father and living on his ranch. The message appears while I'm playing the daughter on her lot and as far as I can tell the animals didn't get put in her household inventory. since I've posted, one of the goats returned after running away but for some reason returned to her lot and eventually ended up back at the father's ranch, idk how. I don't switch between them much, I've only switched a few times either to try to fix the animal issue or to edit the household since he has two new babies with his new wife. I have had the daughter visit the father every once in a while but I haven't gotten the message while on his lot.

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@SheriGR wrote:

@SmartAss_Loser I'm wondering a few things...

• When you said you tried to hire a ranch hand, can you clarify what you mean by that it hasn't worked? Were you unable to hire the ranch hand, or is the ranch hand showing up but not taking care of the goats and sheep? A hired ranch hand should in-and-of-themselves keep the goats and sheep well cared for... I suppose unless there are too many animals on the lot for the ranch hand to take care of alone?
• As mentioned above, the number of animals (especially horses and foals) you can maintain on the ranch, even with a ranch hand there all day, will need to be proportional to how well you and your Sims can manage them. Start small and feel out what your limitations are, and only keep as many on the ranch as you can handle well.
• It seems to help if you both add wild grass to the lot and have the 'Wild Prairie Grass' lot trait, as my horses did feed themselves somewhat autonomously at those growing grass places. That didn't work for all of their feeding, but some of it.
• Caring for foals is touchy business, and you have to really keep an eye on it.
• Do you have Mods or CC?
  
  Spoiler

  Exit the game. Move the Mods folder from your "The Sims 4" folder [Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 4] to your desktop (save it for reference) and delete the localthumbcache.package file in your “The Sims 4” folder. Then check in a new game save to see if this issue is still occurring. You can test without saving in order to identify which CC/Mods are causing the issue. Then remove or add updated version(s) of the Mod/CC causing the issue.
• Is your game fully updated? (There were some issues with ranch hands at first that got fixed in a patch.)
  
  Spoiler

  How to update your game:
  • open Origin
  • click ‘Game Library’
  • right-click Sims 4 > Update Game.
• You could try a game repair.
  
  Spoiler

  How to run a game repair:
  • In Origin (EA App), click ‘Game Library’ (or "My Collection"), then right-click Sims 4 (or look under the three dots), and choose Repair Game (or 'Repair')
  • Let it run until it has completed all repairs. It will do the base game first, then run through each of your DLCs (Expansion Packs, Game Packs, Stuff Packs and Kits).

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@SheriGR What happened with the ranch hand was I switched to the father's household, had him hire one, and stayed with the household for an in-game day to make sure the ranch hand was functioning but when I switched back, I still got the messages. the number of animals is manageable too and he doesn't have any foals. He does have wild grass and all the things he needs to care for the animals. I have lots of mods and I haven't gone through them yet but I don't think I have anything that would affect animal care, especially for an unplayed household.

@SmartAss_Loser 

When I play I stay/play on the same lot with an infant on the lot, or while trying to iron out the care of needy animals, etc. Maybe you could try that and see if it makes any difference on the happiness or odd notices for the animals?

I mentioned the Mods and CC because if a Mod or CC is not functioning properly anymore ('broken'), it can cause errors in the game, and it (they 'type' of Mod/CC) does not necessarily need to be related to what you're doing. (For example, a broken eyelash CC or broken pregnancy Mod could cause a graphics or functionality glitch in the game that has nothing to do with eyelashes or pregnancy.)

I don't want to play with that household anymore though, when I moved the daughter out and started playing her I expected the animals to not be her problem anymore and for them to be autonomously taken care of or just not have needs anymore or however it works just like any other non played household in the game. I still want the father to have those animals because that's part of the little story I've made for him I just don't know what to do to make those animals not my problem anymore without getting rid of them.

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@SheriGR wrote:

@SmartAss_Loser 

When I play I stay/play on the same lot with an infant on the lot, or while trying to iron out the care of needy animals, etc. Maybe you could try that and see if it makes any difference on the happiness or odd notices for the animals?

I mentioned the Mods and CC because if a Mod or CC is not functioning properly anymore ('broken'), it can cause errors in the game, and it (they 'type' of Mod/CC) does not necessarily need to be related to what you're doing. (For example, a broken eyelash CC or broken pregnancy Mod could cause a graphics or functionality glitch in the game that has nothing to do with eyelashes or pregnancy.)

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