Farm life can be a hard gig, in real life and in-game. For the most part, the farming sim Stardew Valley is a stress reliever, where chores can be done at a player’s leisure. However, in order to keep growing your farm, you will need to stay on top of daily chores, and this guide will show you how to use the Stardew Valley Auto-Grabber to help with your tasks.
What is it?
The Auto-Grabber is an auto harvest tool that completes a variety of farming tasks so you don’t have to.
The Auto-Grabber can harvest milk from cows and goats, wool from sheep, and all other products from coop animals.
How to get the Auto-Grabber
An Auto-Grabber can be purchased from Marnie’s Ranch for 25,000 Gold once you reach Farming Level 10.
You will receive a letter from Marnie once you reach this level, confirming that you can visit her Ranch to purchase the harvester.
How does it work?
The Auto-Grabber is a time-saving tool at its core, designed to harvest many materials from around your farm.
The harvest tool can only be placed inside of a barn or coop, and every morning it will automatically harvest the animals’ products.
Functioning as a treasure chest, the Auto-Grabber will hold up to 36 items after harvesting. You can then remove those items by right-clicking on the tool.
You can have as many Auto-Grabbers as you like and place them anywhere inside of a barn or coop, however, they cannot be sold afterwards.
How to remove an Auto-Grabber
You can remove an Auto-Grabber by striking it with a tool, as repeated clicking will have no effect.
Does the Auto-Grabber grab truffles?
Farmers tend to overlook a lot of truffles when collecting them, opting to trim back the grass in order to find the ones they’ve missed.
The Auto-Grabber does not find the truffles for you – that job will be up to the pigs or your keen eye.
However, there is a Deluxe Auto-Grabber mod from Nexus Mods that will help with your truffle harvest.
Is the Stardew Valley Auto-Grabber worth it?
The Auto-Grabber is absolutely worth the Gold if you have a fairly large barnyard to harvest. However, if you have just begun your farming life, it is a good idea to save your Gold until you need it and work on establishing good friendships with your animals.
One disadvantage to using the Auto-Grabber is it prevents you from earning the +5 friendship points you acquire when you milk or shear an animal yourself.
The longer the Auto-Grabber is in place, the more friendship your animals will lose if they are not interacted with, and it will take longer for the animals to reach the maximum 5 hearts.
One way to combat this is to use the Auto-Petter: a tool with the same function as the Auto-Grabber that can be purchased to automatically pet barn and coop animals every day.
The Auto-Petter can be bought from JojaMart for 50,000 Gold once the Joja Warehouse is completed. It can also be found in Skull Cavern treasure chests or obtained as a special item for killing monsters in The Mines during the Danger In the Deep quest.
