Butcher Table Broken? Here's How RimWorld Players Actually Fix It
When it comes to survival in RimWorld, mastering the butcher table can mean the difference between a thriving colony and one that's starving. In one fell swoop, a well-placed butcher table turns hunted game into lifesaving meat and leather – but only if you use it right. The key takeaways: use a butcher table (not just a spot) to get 100% yields, keep it out of your kitchen to avoid food poisoning, and leverage skilled cooks (or even mods) to maximize efficiency.
Quick-Start Butchering Basics
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Choose Spot vs Table
Open the Architect menu → Production. For an immediate solution, place a Butcher Spot (no materials needed). For a permanent solution, build a Butcher Table (requires 75 Stuff + 20 wood for a wooden one).
Tip: The butcher spot yields only 70% of the resources, so build a table as soon as you can for full yield.
Architect → Production → Butcher Table
2. Set Up a Bill
Select the spot/table and click "Bills" → "Add Bill" → "Butcher creature". By default this bill is set to "Do forever," which is fine for continuous butchering.
If you prefer, change it to "Do X times" or "Do until you have Y meat" – but note that all meat types count toward that Y in vanilla.
Select Table → Bills → Add Bill
3. Stockpile Corpses Nearby
Create a Stockpile Zone for animal corpses adjacent to the butcher table. Pawns will haul slain creatures here. The closer to the table, the less walking for the butcher.
4. Assign a Cook
Butchering uses the Cooking work type. Ensure at least one colonist has Cooking enabled (priority 1 if you need it done immediately). If no one has cooking enabled, butchering won't happen.
5. Prioritize if Needed
If a corpse is about to rot and your pawn isn't butchering, you can manually prioritize it. Select a colonist with Cooking > right-click the butcher table > "Prioritize butchering at butcher table".
6. Manage Products
Once butchered, you'll get raw meat and usually leather. These will automatically be hauled to any stockpile allowing foods and textiles. Raw meat spoils fast, so cook it or preserve it quickly. Consider setting up a proper freezer with airlock to prevent spoilage.
Butcher Table in Action
Example of a properly set up butcher table with corpse stockpile and assigned cook ready to process animal carcasses
Butcher Spot vs Butcher Table: Which to Use When?
| Butcher Spot (primitive) | Butcher Table (standard) | |
|---|---|---|
| Build cost | None (just designate spot) | 75 of any building material + 20 wood for fuel (wood table) |
| Yield from corpses | 70% of meat/leather (loss of 30%) | 100% of meat/leather (no penalty) |
| Work speed | 100% base (but slower overall due to same work amount, and pawn may move around more) | 100% base. (No inherent speed bonus, but see tool cabinets below.) |
| Cleanliness impact | None inherent (just butcher on ground, creates blood filth on ground) | -15 cleanliness object; plus blood filth is created on use |
| Moving/Reinstall | Spot can be relocated freely | Table is a building – uninstall/reinstall or deconstruct to move |
| When to use | Emergency early-game butchering (tribal start, no materials). Field butchery during caravans. | Long-term base operations. Whenever resources allow, prefer the table for efficiency. |
Pro-Tip
You can build butcher tables out of various materials (wood, steel, stone, etc.). Material doesn't affect yield, but it affects cleanliness and work speed slightly. Wooden tables are common early (cheap, but equally clean to steel). Stone tables take longer to build and aren't flammable, which might be useful in a hot base where fires are a risk.
Resource Yield Comparison
| Creature | Meat from Table (100%) | Meat from Spot (70%) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muffalo | 140 | 98 | -42 |
| Deer | 90 | 63 | -27 |
| Human | 75 | 53 | -22 |
| Megasloth | 180 | 126 | -54 |
| Thrumbo | 360 | 252 | -108 |
| Rabbit | 8 | 6 | -2 |
"Why is my cook not butchering?" – Common Pitfalls
No Bill Present
No bill means no butchering. The game doesn't add a default butcher bill for you. Always check the Bills tab – if it's empty, add a Butcher creature job. This is the #1 cause of "butcher table not working" posts on forums.
Solution: Select the butcher table and click "Bills" → "Add Bill" → "Butcher creature".
Corpse Not Allowed
By default, the butcher bill will allow all animal corpses and exclude humanlikes. If you're trying to butcher a human or an insect and it's not happening, check the bill's Details.
Solution: In the bill details, check the boxes for the types of corpses you want to allow (animal, humanlike, insect).
Ingredient Radius
Each bill has an "Ingredient search radius". If your corpses are stored far away or in another room, the default radius might not reach them.
Solution: In the bill details, increase the search radius or set it to 'unlimited' if needed – or better, store corpses closer.
Pawn Priority
Your cook may simply be busy cooking meals instead of butchering. RimWorld prioritizes bills in order of listing on the table and by the work type priority.
Solution: Temporarily suspend meal bills or lower the cook stove's priority. Alternatively, have a second pawn with Cooking enabled at a lower skill level to handle butchering.
Forbidden or Outside Allowed Area
If the corpses are forbidden (have a red X on them) or the pawn is restricted (e.g. inside in a safe zone during a raid), they won't butcher.
Solution: Unforbid any accidentally forbidden corpses (click corpse, press F) and make sure the pawn's allowed area includes the corpse and the table.
Emergency Override
If all else fails and you have a corpse about to rot, you can draft the pawn, undraft, and manually prioritize: Select pawn > right-click butcher table > "Prioritize butchering at [table]"
Optimal Butchery Room Setup
TL;DR: Keep the butchery separate from where you cook meals.
Cooking cleanliness vs. Butchering cleanliness
Food poisoning chance is calculated when cooking meals based on the room cleanliness of the cooking station. Butchering itself doesn't cause food poisoning in raw meat – only the meal prep does. However, butchering is a very dirty job: it sprays blood everywhere and the butcher table object carries a permanent cleanliness penalty (-15). For more details on managing cleanliness issues, check our floor cleaning guide.
Optimal Layout Diagram
# FREEZER #COOK #
# # #
# # #
########D##### #
#BUTCHER# D #
# # # #
# D # #
# # # #
####################
# - Wall
D - Door
Optimal setup: Separate butchery room adjacent to freezer, cooking area separate from both
Separate rooms solution
Cooking Room
- Small, spotless room
- Contains stove/campfire
- Sterile tile floor if possible
- Regularly cleaned
- No butcher table inside!
See our optimal colony layout guide for detailed room designs.
Butcher Room
- Can be smaller (3x3 is enough)
- Contains butcher table
- Stockpile for corpses
- Will get messy (blood)
- Stone/concrete floor for easier cleaning
What about butchering in the freezer?
Some players put the butcher table inside the freezer to automatically preserve meat and to save hauling time. This is convenient, but note:
- Working in a freezer (below comfortable temperatures, especially below 0°C) gives a Work Speed Penalty due to temperature.
- The butcher table's filth will make the freezer dirty.
- If your cooking stove is also in the freezer, you risk food poisoning.
A compromise solution:
Put the butcher table in a corner of the freezer but behind a door. For example, build a little 3x3 walled annex inside the freezer for the butcher table. This way, the meat is steps away from cold storage, and you avoid combining the kitchen and butchery.
Efficiency: Getting More Meat and Leather per Corpse
Cooking Skill & Butchery Efficiency
Butchering is tied to the Cooking skill. Each point of Cooking skill increases butcher yield by +2.5%, now up to 150% in RimWorld 1.5 (previous cap was 100%).
| Cooking Skill | Butchery Yield | Example (Muffalo, base 140 meat) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 75% | 105 meat |
| 4 | 85% | 119 meat |
| 8 | 95% | 133 meat |
| 10 | 100% | 140 meat |
| 15 | 112.5% | 158 meat |
| 20 + 2 bionic arms | 150% (max) | 210 meat |
Pawn Manipulation and Sight
Butchery efficiency is also influenced by the pawn's manipulation and sight capacities:
- High manipulation (bionic arms, etc.) can boost yield
- Bionic arms give +10% manipulation each (110% total with one, 125% with two)
- Poor manipulation (injuries, missing fingers) will drop efficiency
- Impaired vision also reduces yield slightly
Late-Game Optimization
In late game, giving your dedicated cook/butcher bionic arms can yield significant returns in the form of more meat and leather. A level 20 cook with two bionic arms can reach the new 150% cap introduced in RimWorld 1.5.
Tool Cabinets
While these don't increase yield, they increase the speed of butchery:
- Each tool cabinet gives a +6% work speed improvement
- Maximum of two cabinets can affect one table (+12% total)
- Must be placed within radius and linked in the info panel
- Faster butchery means your cook spends less time per corpse
Tool Cabinet: +6% work speed each
Butchering Big vs Small Creatures
Large creatures take more work to butcher but yield more resources. With a low-skill butcher, you "lose" more absolute meat from big creatures:
Low-skill example:
A low-skill butcher (80% efficient) butchering a Thrumbo (base 360 meat) will yield ~288 meat instead of 360 – losing 72 meat!
Strategy:
Save big valuable creatures for your best cook. Let beginners practice on smaller animals where the absolute loss is minimal.
Taming and Slaughter vs Hunting
If you tame an animal and then slaughter it, you avoid the 30% corpse damage penalty that hunting imposes. Wild animals killed by weapons are considered "damaged" corpses. So ranching can be more efficient than hunting, though you have to feed and care for tamed animals. For more details on animal butchering mechanics, check our comprehensive animal butchering guide.
Ideology Effects
Rancher Bonus
If your colony has the "Ranching is preferred" meme, you get a direct buff to butchery yield (up to +20%). This stacks with other effects!
Restrictions
Some ideologies might forbid butchering certain creatures (e.g. "Venerated" animals). Respect those rules or face mood/social penalties.
Handling Human and Insect Corpses
Insect Butchering
Insect meat is considered gross by most colonists. Key points:
- By default, colonists will not cook insect meat into fine meals
- Insect meat is usable in Kibble for animals
- Butchering yields insect meat and insect chitin (instead of leather)
- Chitin is a decent material for armor crafting
- No mood penalty for butchering insects
Pro Tip
Turn insect meat into chemfuel at a Biofuel Refinery – a very useful way to dispose of it for a positive outcome.
Insect meat: Useful for kibble or chemfuel
Human Butchering
Mood Penalties
- -6 mood "Butchered Humanlike" on all colonists on the map
- -6 "Butchered human" on the butcher (stacking per corpse)
- -20 "Cooked Cannibalism" when eating human meat meals
For detailed strategies on managing these penalties, see our comprehensive human butchering guide.
Why butcher humans at all?
Human Meat
High nutrition (0.05 per unit) and can be used for meals or kibble. Best uses:
- Feed to animals as kibble (no mood penalty)
- Use in nutrient paste for prisoners
- Only have cannibals eat it directly
Human Leather
High market value and decent stats for making clothes. Consider:
- Valuable for trading (human leather cowboy hats)
- Using only if your ideology permits it
- Having only psychopaths wear these items
Managing the Mood Penalty
- Dedicated Butcher - Have a single psychopath or cannibal do all the dirty work
- Timing - Schedule butchering when most colonists are asleep or away
- Isolation - Butcher in a room that others don't enter
- Off-Map Trick - Send sensitive colonists on a caravan, butcher with your cannibal, then bring everyone back
Ethical Alternatives
Cremation
Build a crematorium to dispose of bodies safely. No resources gained, but no mood penalty beyond hauling.
Burial
Put raiders in graves or dump them in a marsh (slight environment debuff for rotting). See our complete corpse disposal guide for more options.
Predators
Leave corpses outside your base to attract wolves or other animals who will eat them.
Cannibal Colony Fun
If you're role-playing a cannibal tribe or organ-harvesting pirate crew, embrace human butchery:
- Recruit pawns with the Cannibal trait
- Set ideology so everyone is required to consume human meat
- Cannibals get +20 mood from eating human meat
- Use the butcher table as a central piece of "ritual" furniture
- Learn more about managing colonist happiness in extreme situations
Just remember to still keep cooking areas clean – even cannibals don't like food poisoning from dirty kitchens!
Mid-Game Butchery: Scaling Up & Automation
By mid-to-late game, you might find that butchering becomes a full-time job in your colony. Here are strategies to handle butchery at scale:
Multiple Butcher Tables
Don't hesitate to build a second (or third) butcher table if corpse processing is a bottleneck. This allows multiple pawns to butcher simultaneously.
You might dedicate one table for animals and another for humans/insects to keep things organized.
Specialist vs Generalist
Having one pawn whose only job is butchering and hauling carcasses can help keep your kitchen stocked.
Give this pawn high Cooking priority but disallow them from cooking meals. They'll focus on butchery while your chef focuses on cooking meals.
Auto-Slaughter Management
The Manage Auto-Slaughter tool (introduced in RimWorld 1.3) is a mid-game boon for meat production:
- Set target population counts for each breed of animal
- The game marks animals over your limit for slaughter
- Evens out workload over time (prevents sudden population booms)
- Check the Animals tab often and tweak settings as needed
Auto-Slaughter: Automated herd management
Caravan Butchery
Bring along a butcher spot or two on caravans. Hunt on-site and butcher immediately to carry back just the meat and leather, which weigh less than whole corpses.
Be mindful of meat spoiling on the way – consider cooking it into meals immediately or using pemmican.
Electric Butcher Table (Mod)
This popular mod adds an upgraded butcher table that's 75% faster when powered (200W). At this speed, it's like having 1.75 tables in one spot.
It's also slightly cleaner to use than the vanilla table, reducing filth creation.
Storage and Freezer Upgrades
As you scale up butchery, ensure your meat storage is up to the task:
- Use Shelves to increase storage density (In RimWorld 1.4+, shelves hold 3 stacks per tile)
- Consider building a second freezer if needed
- Turn excess meat into pemmican or packaged survival meals for long-term storage
- Set up trade beacons in your freezer to sell excess meat to bulk goods traders
Mods and Final Thoughts
The community has created great solutions for many butcher table pain points. Here are some standout mods:
Butchery Counts Meat Types
Essential if you want fine control over meat management in bills. Makes the "Do until X" for butchering count only the meat types that bill is set to produce.
For example, a bill set to butcher only insect corpses will only look at insect meat in storage. Perfect for kibble production workflows.
Improved bill management
Electric Butcher Table
For sheer efficiency and time-saving. Works without power at normal speed, or +75% faster when powered (200W).
Build cost: 125 Steel + 2 Components. Slightly cleaner than vanilla table, reducing filth creation.
Faster powered butchering
Butcher Rotten
A niche but life-saving mod for harsh biomes or tribals who want to use every last scrap. Allows butchering of rotten corpses, yielding only a percentage of resources (configurable, default ~50% meat/leather).
Invaluable on maps where corpses rot quickly or if you come across long-dead animals.
Utilize rotting corpses
Better Auto-slaughter
Enhances the built-in auto-slaughter system by adding options like slaughter youngest vs oldest first and more detailed control over your herds.
Useful if the vanilla options feel too limited when fine-tuning herd culling in a large ranching operation.
Advanced herd management
A Note on Mods
Remember that using mods can disable achievements and may affect game balance. But if you're at the point where your colony is an industrial-scale meat packing plant, you're probably in it for the storytelling and megabase building – so go wild with those mods!
The Storytelling Element
Don't underestimate the storytelling element of the butcher table. It's more than just a production bench: it's where tales of survival, desperation, and ruthlessness play out. The sight of your colonist lovingly butchering a three-eyed giant Thrumbo that attacked the colony, or the time you had to butcher your beloved pet muffalo named Bessie because of a winter famine – these moments stick with you.
"In one player's colony, a sudden blight killed all the crops during a volcanic winter. Facing starvation, they butchered the colony's herd of pet alpacas one by one, each time with colonists weeping at the loss. The butcher table became an altar of sacrifice that saw the community through the dark year."
Action Steps Recap
- Build a butcher table early (the 30% yield boost over spots is crucial)
- Keep it out of the kitchen to prevent food poisoning
- Train a skilled butcher (each skill point = +2.5% yield)
- Consider bionics for your top butcher in late game
- Don't be afraid to expand or mod your setup as your colony grows
Further Resources
RimWorld Official Wiki – Butcher Table
In-depth stats and version history. The wiki contains detailed information about game mechanics and may be updated with the latest changes.
Visit WikiOfficial documentation
Guide: Food Production & Cooking (Community Wiki)
Complements this guide by focusing on meals, food preservation, and kitchen design. Excellent for a complete understanding of the food production chain.
Read GuideFood system guide
YouTube – RimWorld Cooking & Butchering Tutorials
Short videos covering optimal kitchen/butcher layouts and tips for new players. Visual tutorials can help clarify concepts that are hard to describe in text.
Watch TutorialsVideo tutorials
Steam Workshop – Mod Lists for Colony Management
Check out collections that include the mods mentioned (search for "RimWorld kitchen automation mod pack"). These often come with user feedback on what works well together.
Browse WorkshopMod collections
Patch History
Update 1.5 (Apr 12, 2024)
Removed 100% efficiency cap. Butchery efficiency can now reach up to 150%. Early-game impact: minimal. Late-game impact: significant for colonies with ultra-skilled butchers – yields from each corpse can now surpass the base amount.
Also in this update: the redundant "allow fresh" toggle on butcher bills was hidden to avoid newbie confusion.
Biotech DLC & Update 1.4 (Oct 21, 2022)
No major direct changes to butchering, but new creatures (genetic hybrids and mechanoids) arrived. Some biotech creatures yield unique resources (e.g. hemogen packs from Sanguphage thralls instead of meat).
Update 1.3 (July 2021)
Brought the Auto-slaughter system. While not a butcher table change per se, it hugely impacted mid-game meat management, automatically queuing animals for butchering.
Ideology DLC (July 20, 2021)
Introduced Ideoligion precepts affecting butchering: e.g. Carnivore or Cannibal ideologies removed mood penalties for human butchery/eating, while others forbade it. Also added the "Rancher" precept which grants +20% butchery yield.
Alpha 10 (Aug 2014)
"Butcher table can now be made of stuff." Before this, butcher tables were always wood. This change let players build them from metal or stone, making it easier to get a table when wood was scarce.