Them lovely cattle!

[RegentMan]

What do you do to your grassland cattle that start next to your starting position?

[RegentMan]

I usually mine em. Settlers are pumped out quicker. But I have read sites (like Sullla's or Sirian's) where they irrigate them for the extra food. Might have to try that.

[Turner]

I usually mine them, since they have what, four food? I dont' recall of the top of my head. But yeah, mine them. If I really need the pop points, or I have a lot of mineable terrain, I will irrigate them.

[WillJ]

It all depends:

In the beginning of the game (or whenever else I'm in despotism), if most of the rest of the city is grassland (without extra food), I usually irrigate them, simply because there's other grasslands to be mined, and I want to take advantage of the one that I can irrigate. However, I would NOT irrigate (and therefore "sacrifice") usually mined-squares by irrigating them in order to be able to irrigate the cattle. I'd only irrigate if it's not much trouble; otherwise I'd mine.

However, if the other squares are floodplains, plains, etc., where I usually irrigate them, I guess I normally mine any cattle. And you have to factor in how much growth is important to you, whether you're building settlers, etc.

Every situation's different, really.

Edit: And I voted irrigate, just to be different.

[Bamspeedy]

It all depends on the surrounding terrain. Generally, you want to irrigate it. Food production is the most important thing in despotism (faster growth=more shields/commerce). However, if the surrounding terrain is pretty poor in shield production (and/or has plenty of other excess food), then mine it.

Irrigate if it has at least a few other bonus grassland tiles/plains around. sure, the very first settler may be delayed a little bit, but after that you will build settlers faster. With no granary, the fastest you can build settlers:
+2 food=1 settler/20 turns (no bonus food)
+3 food=1 settler/14 turns (cattle on grass if mined)
+4 food=1 settler/10 turns (cattle on grass if irrigated)
+5 food=1 settler/8 turns

With Granary:
+2 food=1 settler/10 turns
+3 food=1 settler/8 turns
+4 food=1 settler/6 turns
+5 food=1 settler/4 turns

Use the luxury slider a little bit to support the higher populations, until you get luxuries hooked up, and don't hit size 7 (that empties your granary). You will be ok if you finish the settler at the same time as hitting size 7, just don't spend 1 full turn at size 7.
Keep in mind you need to have the shield production to be able to pull off the 4-turn settler factory, but usually 2-3 mined bonus grassland will be enough. (depending if the bonus resources are producing a shield, and you have a forest to 'temporarily' work each time your population grows).

[pdescobar]

I admire them, put a road on them if I'm able to, and then eventually irrigate them.. Occaisionally, I will plant trees around them and mine that in the industrial age. Of course, I play DyP so my choices are different than yours

Sorry, but I couldn't fail to reply to a thread with this name... FWIW, back when I played standard rules I believe it depended on the other tiles I had to work with, much as WillJ indicates.

[Sirp]

It depends on the surrounding terrain. Most eminently, it depends if there if fresh water nearby I have had a start with four cattle, and no fresh water on the starting landmass!

But it also depends upon the exact terrain. You basically want to keep irrigating until you get the city up until +5 food per turn, and then mine after that. Anything beyond +5 food per turn doesn't help you much. (If you can get +7 fpt, you could consider getting that until you get your granary, or perhaps even forego a granary, but I doubt that is a good option).

Also you might want to irrigate more tiles, share some of the irrigated tiles between multiple cities, and do some nifty micromanaging to squeeze out extra production.

-Sirp.

[FenrysWulf]

I mine all grassland no matter what else is on it. I value production over all else.

[ivory]

FenrysWulf, have you considered this: irrigation = growth = more production than a mine would give.
I don't see how the earlier posts could make this any clearer.

addit:
If I know or suspect my Golden Age is near, I mine grasslands too without thinking. In a Golden Age all tiles must produce at least one shield to receive a bonus. If I don't mine it, it will not benefit from any GA effects. Exceptional grasslands such as bonus grassland or grassland with cattle already produce one shield by default, so may remain irrigated even during a GA. (Same with commerce. All tiles must have a road or be a riverbank to produce at least one ordinary commerce so it will get a GA commerce on top.)

[Mark Young]

Like everyone else it depends on the surrounding terrain.

With a cow resource I generally horn in on it (like a bull at a gate),as the first terrain to improve and milk it for all that I can.
If there is no wheat or flood plain than I stear clear of irrigation but if there is wheat or flood plain than I mine the hide out of it.
The advantage of mining is that you can beef up your shields and get a whole herd of workers or settlers quicker.

[SirPleb]

I irrigate them, even if it means having to irrigate another tile to get water there. Exceptions to this are very rare for me. I find that citizen growth is almost always the limiting factor in early settler production. More food means more citizens. If there's a shield shortage then the faster growth soon covers it by adding another working citizen.

[Ville]

It depends but if I'm in Grassland I propably mine it

[Darkness]

Like SirPleb I almost always irrigate them, with very few exceptions. I just love those 4-turn settler factories....

[Brewster]

I will echo what others have said. I like to irrigate them for the increased food production. If I am already at +5 food, I will mine the cattle and get an extra shield for production.

As others before me have stated, population growth is the most important aspect of the early part of the game so irrigate that cattle, build a granary, and get your settler factory online asap.

At the beginning of the game, there are only a few cases in which you can get more than 2 food from a peice of land. So when ever i get the opportunity for more thn 2 food, i will always irrigate

[Strider]

I'm not that big of a micromanager.... I normally mine cattle and just keep it like that.

[Penguin Glory]

I usually irrigate them, growth helps everything (commerce, sheilds, science, more growth)

[The Last Conformist]

Voted mine, but it depends really.

[DaveMcW]

I hope no one is mining PLAINS CATTLE...

[bru]

I will mine them unless there is a shortage of food. Sometimes I will irrigate and mine later when the pop becomes larger, or city needs added production.