Probably Stolen livestock feed dispenser: Setup Guide

Learn how to get and use the Probably Stolen livestock feed dispenser, manage its 40,000-calorie capacity, and support a productive rat ranch.

A rat ranch needs more than breeding pairs to keep producing meat: it needs a dependable food supply. The Probably Stolen livestock feed dispenser stores up to 40,000 calories, making it a central part of keeping your animals fed as the colony grows. Understanding the Probably Stolen livestock feed dispenser helps you plan refills, protect your breeding stock, and avoid treating automated feeding as a completely hands-off business.

This guide explains how to obtain the dispenser, use it in your ranching setup, and organize the supporting equipment. The mechanics below come from the published launch-build reference; where exact consumption rates or interface details are unavailable, the guide flags those limits rather than guessing.

How to Get the Livestock Feed Dispenser

The dispenser belongs to the Rat Ranching trade. You can enter that trade through your starting specialization or unlock it during an existing run.

Probably Stolen - Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim official screenshot

Official screenshot · Source: Steam store

Unlock route	Requirement	What to expect
Rat Wrangler start	Choose Rat Wrangler when starting	Begin with access to rat ranching
Mid-run Ranching unlock	Buy Ranching through Joe Wild’s Network for 750 credits	Receive the ranching starter equipment and animals
Additional equipment	Check the Rat Rancher’s weekly visits	The supplier carries cages, dispensers, and other ranching equipment

Joe Wild’s Network becomes available on day 7. If you chose another profession, that is the point when the mid-run Ranching unlock becomes an option, provided you have enough credits.

The ranching starter package includes an Animal Cage with a Feed Dispenser, three pairs of rats at different ages, a Kitchen Cleaver, a Blue Labeler, a Marking Pen, Nutrifruit, and Peat.

The important distinction is that 750 credits unlocks Ranching. It is not a confirmed standalone purchase price for an individual dispenser.

What to buy after the starter kit

The Rat Rancher returns weekly with equipment such as Auto Butchers, Cleaner Robots, serums, and additional breeding rats. You do not need every upgrade immediately.

A sensible early priority is to establish a working cage, maintain a food reserve, and protect a male-and-female breeding pair. Automation is more useful once those basics are reliable.

For the underlying trade details, see Bonus Action’s published guide to unlocking trades in Probably Stolen. You can also use the Steam store search for Probably Stolen to find its store listing and check available developer updates before relying on launch-build numbers.

How to Use the Probably Stolen Livestock Feed Dispenser

The dispenser’s documented job is straightforward: load it with food so it can keep the rats fed. Its maximum storage is measured in calories, not a stated number of food items.

Start with the cage and dispenser supplied by the ranching unlock. Put a male and female rat in the Animal Cage, then load food into the Livestock Feed Dispenser.

Step	Action	Why it matters
1	Set up the Animal Cage and its dispenser	Establishes the basic ranching setup
2	Add a male and female rat	Provides a breeding pair
3	Load food into the dispenser	Supplies the calories needed to feed the animals
4	Track the reserve as the colony grows	Helps you recognize when refills are becoming more frequent
5	Check health, cleanliness, and cage condition	Feeding alone does not address disease or escape risks

The reference does not specify an exact mouse action, controller input, installation sequence, or separate power requirement for the dispenser. Follow the interaction prompts in your version rather than assuming it works exactly like a Hydroponic System or Furnace.

What food should you use?

The starter kit includes Nutrifruit, making it the most straightforward starting point for your feeding setup. However, the supplied reference does not provide a complete dispenser compatibility list or a calorie table for every food.

That means there is no supported basis here for declaring one item the universally best feed. Compare foods using the calorie contribution shown in your game and their purchase or production costs.

For purchased food, a useful calculation is:

Cost per 1,000 calories = food price ÷ calories supplied × 1,000

Lower-cost calories can improve your margins, but only if the food is accepted by the dispenser. Check compatibility before committing to a large purchase.

Understanding the 40,000-Calorie Capacity

The Probably Stolen livestock feed dispenser holds up to 40,000 calories. That is a storage ceiling, not a promise that one refill lasts a particular number of days.

The source does not establish how many calories each rat consumes daily, whether that changes with age, or how different traits affect demand. Consequently, claims such as “one full dispenser feeds six rats for a week” would be unsupported.

You can still build a practical refill schedule by observing your own ranch.

Measure consumption before expanding

Record the reserve at the same point on successive days, along with the number of animals in the cage. Repeat the check across several days rather than relying on one reading.

Observation	What to record	What it helps you decide
Current reserve	Calories available in the dispenser	Whether a refill is needed soon
Colony size	Number of rats being fed	Whether demand is rising
Recent births	New pups added to the colony	When to reassess your food budget
Refill amount	Calories added during the observation period	How to interpret changes in the reserve
Food spending	Credits spent on refills	Whether meat revenue covers feeding costs

As a planning example—not a confirmed consumption rate—suppose you observe a reserve falling by 4,000 calories per day. A full dispenser would represent approximately 10 days of food at that unchanged rate.

That estimate stops being dependable if the population or its consumption changes. Recheck after litters arrive instead of using the same refill schedule indefinitely.

Use a refill threshold

You do not have to wait until the dispenser is nearly empty. Choose a reserve level that leaves enough time to obtain more food, especially if you depend on visiting suppliers.

The goal is not necessarily to keep storage permanently full. It is to prevent a growing colony from outpacing your refill routine.

Build a Feeding-to-Meat Production Cycle

The dispenser supports ranching, but breeding and growth determine when you have animals ready to butcher.

The published figures describe pregnancy lasting three days, with litters averaging three pups. Rats reach adulthood at approximately 11 days old, around 450 grams. These are planning benchmarks, not a guarantee that every animal follows an identical schedule.

Ranching milestone	Reported benchmark	Planning implication
Pregnancy	3 days	Anticipate population increases
Average litter	3 pups	Reassess food demand after births
Adulthood	Around 11 days old	Allow time before expecting adult-sized yields
Adult weight	About 450 g	Provides a useful harvest benchmark
Healthy 450 g rat	One Raw Meat plus one Small Morsel	Listed combined value is 174 credits

The 174-credit figure comes from adding the listed values of Raw Meat, 159 credits, and a Small Morsel, 15 credits. It is an output value, not net profit. Food, equipment, and other expenses still need to be considered.

Protect the rats that keep production going

Before using an Auto Butcher, mark the animals you want to retain with the Marking Pen. The Auto Butcher skips marked rats.

That makes marking your breeding pair a critical step. The Probably Stolen livestock feed dispenser can maintain the food supply, but it cannot protect an unmarked breeder from automated butchering.

A practical routine is to:

Mark the male and female you intend to keep.
Check their health before expanding the colony.
Reassess feed reserves after births.
Butcher surplus animals while preserving breeding stock.
Compare meat income against ongoing food costs.

Grow feed if it fits your business

Hydroponic Farming can support Rat Ranching by producing food. Its Retired Farmer unlock costs 350 credits, while Nutrifruit has a reported base growing time of about three nights.

Buying both Ranching and Retired Farmer mid-run therefore costs 1,100 credits in unlock fees, before additional expenses. Hydroponic Systems also require water, nutrients, and power; their stated consumption is 8 power per night.

Homegrown food is worth evaluating, but it is not automatically free or more profitable than buying feed.

Troubleshooting Feeding and Ranching Problems

A stocked Probably Stolen livestock feed dispenser handles one part of animal care. If your ranch performs poorly, inspect the whole setup rather than assuming every problem comes from feeding.

Problem	First checks	Relevant mechanic
Food reserves disappear faster	Check colony growth and recent litters	More animals mean your old refill estimate needs reviewing
Meat output is lower than expected	Inspect animal health	Sick rats lose a quarter of their meat yield
Rats escape	Check cage condition	Badly damaged cages can allow escapes
Breeding stock gets butchered	Verify the intended breeders are marked	Auto Butchers skip marked animals
Disease becomes a recurring concern	Review cleanliness and immunity	Cleaner Robots collect feces overnight; green serum boosts immunity

Repair cages with Scrap Metal and expand them with Metal Ingots. Those materials serve different purposes, so keep repairs separate from expansion plans.

Serums also involve a trade-off. The green serum increases immunity, while the red serum accelerates growth but lowers immunity. Faster growth may sound attractive, but the immunity penalty deserves attention when sick animals already produce less meat.

A Cleaner Robot supports hygiene by collecting feces overnight. It complements the dispenser rather than replacing it: one handles waste collection, while the other supplies food.

Before ending the day, check the reserve, breeding marks, cage condition, and animal health. That short inspection is more useful than assuming automation has removed every management task.

FAQ

How much does the Probably Stolen livestock feed dispenser hold?

It stores up to 40,000 calories. The published reference does not give a confirmed daily consumption rate per rat, so capacity alone cannot tell you exactly how many days a refill will last.

Where can you get another feed dispenser?

The Rat Rancher’s weekly stock includes dispensers and other ranching equipment. You also receive an Animal Cage with a Feed Dispenser through the ranching starter package. A separate dispenser price is not provided in the reference.

Does the dispenser automatically butcher rats?

No. Feeding and butchering are separate functions. Use a cleaver for manual butchering or obtain an Auto Butcher for nightly automation. Mark any rats you want to keep, because the Auto Butcher skips marked animals.

Is a full dispenser enough to keep a ranch productive?

Not by itself. Food supply must be supported by healthy animals, a maintained cage, cleanliness, and protected breeding stock. Treat the Probably Stolen livestock feed dispenser as your feeding system—not as a replacement for checking the rest of the ranch.