With the herd penalty now currently ten times as penalizing, livestock need a buff.
Before it made sense to have a few dozen sets of walking meat but with each animal (of any type) giving only two meat and there being no spoilage in the game, it simply makes much more sense to have a single sumpter horse which can carry five times as much on its back for the same herd penalty. Alternatively, make livestock (sheep, cows, hogs) give less herd penalty compared to horses. Or increase the amount of meat they provide, with sumpters and mules representing the versatile (can carry other things) while straight livestock give more food total but only meat and can't be used any other way.
That would make it a tradeoff of sorts and possibly create an incentive to favor livestock over pack animals.
Before it made sense to have a few dozen sets of walking meat but with each animal (of any type) giving only two meat and there being no spoilage in the game, it simply makes much more sense to have a single sumpter horse which can carry five times as much on its back for the same herd penalty. Alternatively, make livestock (sheep, cows, hogs) give less herd penalty compared to horses. Or increase the amount of meat they provide, with sumpters and mules representing the versatile (can carry other things) while straight livestock give more food total but only meat and can't be used any other way.
That would make it a tradeoff of sorts and possibly create an incentive to favor livestock over pack animals.