How to Butcher Animals in RimWorld (Table vs Spot, 1.6)
RimWorld 1.6 · Core
Fast answer: build a butcher table or butcher spot under architect → production, add a butcher creature bill on the Bills tab, and let a pawn with cooking enabled do the work. The table gives full meat and leather yield; the spot only 70%. Rotten corpses are rejected automatically.
Do this in-game: butcher an animal corpse
-
Open architect Tab → production → place a butcher table or butcher spot.
architect Tab → production →
butcher table
/
butcher spot
-
Click the building → Bills tab → add butcher creature. Repeat the bill if you want a queue. Each job takes 450 work units.
→
×1
animal corpse
+
varies
meat
varies
leather
Default bill filter: animal corpses only. Mechanoids need a different bill — shred mechanoid (Crafting skill).
-
Assign a pawn whose cooking work type is enabled. Butchering uses the cooking work type — not handling. Skill that matters: cooking (affects speed and yield via butcher efficiency).
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Unforbid the corpse you want butchered. The bill only picks up allowed, non-rotten animal corpses within range.
Butcher table vs butcher spot
| butcher table | butcher spot | |
|---|---|---|
| Yield factor | 1.0 (default) | 0.7 |
| Cost | 75 stuff (metallic or woody) + 20 wood | None |
| Build work | 2000 | 0 |
| Cleanliness | −15 | — |
| Size | 3×1 | 1×1 |
| Can uninstall | Yes | No (floor emplacement) |
| Recipes | butcher creature, make kibble | |
Spot description in-game: "yields only 70% of the meat and leather." The table uses the default yield factor (1.0). Pawn butcher efficiency is a separate multiplier on top of the table factor.
Early game: the spot is free and instant — fine for a first hunt. Once you have steel or wood to spare, the table pays for itself in extra meat and leather on every corpse.
The butcher creature bill
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Bill label | butcher creature |
| Work amount | 450 |
| Work skill | cooking |
| Work type | cooking (not handling) |
| Default filter | Animal corpses |
| Rotten corpses | Disallowed |
| Mechanoid corpses | Disallowed (use shred mechanoid instead) |
Rotten and dessicated corpses
Three independent blocks stop you from butchering spoiled meat:
- The butcher table description: "Rotting or dessicated corpses cannot be butchered."
- The bill rejects rotten corpses — already-rotten corpses are never picked up.
- If a corpse rots mid-job, the pawn stops and abandons the work.
Butcher while fresh. Hunt near home, keep a cooler if you can, and do not let corpses sit in the sun. Once rot sets in, that meat is gone.
Humanlike butchery mood
Humanlike corpses are not in the default bill filter — you must widen it deliberately. If you do, expect mood hits:
| Mood thought | Mood |
|---|---|
| I butchered humanlike | −6 |
| we butchered humanlike | −6 |
Most colonists get both thoughts — the butcher and everyone who knows. Psychopaths and cannibals have different rules; eating human meat triggers separate, harsher thoughts (ate human meat −20, as ingredient −15).
Cleanliness on the table
The butcher table applies −15 cleanliness to its tile. That is a room stat on the building itself — it is not the same as the kitchen food-poisoning mechanic used by meal cooking. The table also does not require a workshop room role, so you can place it anywhere without room penalties.
Practical tips
- Prioritize cooking on your hunter or dedicated cook — higher skill means faster jobs and better butcher efficiency.
- Repeat bills — one bill butchers one corpse. Add several copies or set to repeat forever so the bench stays busy after each hunt.
- Stockpile placement — put a corpse stockpile or dumping spot next to the table so haulers do not walk across the map.
- Upgrade from spot to table — on a deer yielding 140 meat, the spot gives 98. The table gives the full 140. That 42-meat gap adds up fast.
- Kibble too — both buildings also offer make kibble if you need animal feed.