Key Highlights:
- Manor Lords update plans include cow breeding, milk, beef, cheese, oats, animal feed and seasonal livestock production.
- Wide Valley adds a new map where two rivers meet, while the long-awaited Large Stone Church will finally become available.
- Slavic Magic is targeting the beta branch by the end of July, followed by the main branch by the end of August.
The next major Manor Lords update is shaping up to be one of the biggest expansions to the medieval city-builder’s economy since Early Access began. Developer Slavic Magic is preparing cow breeding, a deeper livestock system, a new map, seasonal worker assignments and substantial changes to how advanced buildings are constructed.
The update is currently scheduled to enter beta testing before the end of July 2026. If testing progresses as planned, Slavic Magic hopes to move the changes onto Manor Lords’ main branch by the end of August. New Development Perks are planned to follow afterwards.
The timing is significant because Manor Lords has only recently completed a lengthy technical overhaul. Major Update #7 moved months of beta work onto the main branch on 10 July, including changes to pathfinding, character movement, collision and other underlying systems. Slavic Magic described the next stage simply as a return to adding more content.
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Cow Breeding Creates a New Livestock Economy
Cows will become a breedable animal rather than simply another visual addition to Manor Lords.
Players will be able to import cows and keep them on pastures. The animals produce milk, while butchering provides beef. A new Cheesemonger artisan can then process milk into cheese, creating another production chain for settlements to manage.
Cow breeding builds on Manor Lords’ earlier livestock management system, which already gave players ways to turn excess sheep and cattle into useful settlement resources.
The existing Sheep Farm is also being renamed the Livestock Farm, reflecting its expanded role within the settlement economy.
Pastures themselves will require more investment. Building one will consume planks, and its construction cost will dynamically increase according to the size of the pasture. Slavic Magic has also added winter shelters inspired by historical manuscript examples alongside improvements to livestock flocking behaviour.
Keeping animals alive will introduce another consideration: food.
Oats are being added as a new crop. Farmers can thresh Oat Sheaves into Oats, which families can consume directly or Livestock Farm workers can convert into Animal Feed.
Pasture animals must be fed, particularly during winter when failing to provide enough food could cause livestock to starve.
That creates a much clearer production relationship than Manor Lords currently has:
| Resource | Produced/Used By | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Oats | Farming | Food or Animal Feed |
| Animal Feed | Livestock Farm | Feeds pasture animals |
| Milk | Cows | Food and cheese production |
| Beef | Cows | Food |
| Cheese | Cheesemonger | Refined food product |
The change could make agricultural planning considerably more important. Fertile land already influences which settlements can efficiently support crops, and livestock will now create another reason to consider agricultural output when developing a region.
Players have already started discussing that consequence. Some members of the Manor Lords community believe tying both cows and sheep to Oats could increase the strategic value of fertile territories compared with regions that struggle with crop production.
Seasonal Work Assignments Should Reduce Micromanagement
One of the less flashy additions could end up having an equally large effect on normal play.
Manor Lords will allow players to configure workplace assignments by season. Instead of repeatedly moving workers between jobs as the year progresses, workplaces can be prepared around seasonal labour requirements in advance.
This addresses a problem players have discussed since shortly after Early Access began. Farming is particularly affected because families needed for harvesting, ploughing and sowing can spend other parts of the year assigned to completely different jobs. Players currently have to manage much of that movement themselves.
I think this is one of the update’s more important changes precisely because it removes repetitive management without removing seasonal decision-making. Players still decide where labour should go, but the game can remember those decisions rather than requiring the same reassignment every year.
Livestock will follow the seasons as well. Slavic Magic says cows and sheep will breed and produce more seasonally, connecting the new livestock economy directly to the game’s calendar.
Trading Posts are receiving another useful management tool through Storage Filters. Players will be able to restrict individual Trading Posts to specific types of goods, providing greater control over storage and trade logistics.
Wide Valley and the Large Stone Church Are Coming
A new map called Wide Valley will arrive with the update.
Its defining geographical feature is a wide-open valley where two rivers meet in the centre. The layout should give players another terrain configuration to consider when positioning settlements, roads and production areas.
Another long-awaited addition is the Large Stone Church.
The building will finally make its debut alongside the other new content, expanding settlement development beyond the existing church options. Slavic Magic has said its designs are based on historical examples, continuing Manor Lords’ approach to medieval architecture.
Construction Is Getting a Major Overhaul
Construction is also being expanded beyond the existing system of allocating resources and waiting for unassigned families to complete a structure.
Buildings will be divided into basic and advanced structures. Advanced construction will require a Construction Yard, creating a more specialised building process for larger projects.
The Construction Yard includes handcarts for transporting resources and can make use of Ox Carts for heavier loads. Ox Cart loading will require manual workers, adding labour and logistics requirements to advanced construction.
That represents a meaningful change from the current system. Manor Lords presently relies on unassigned families for construction, while oxen transport timber when a building requires it.
The new system therefore gives advanced construction its own logistical chain rather than treating every structure largely through the same building process.
Slavic Magic’s decision to introduce these systems now also reflects where Manor Lords has reached in Early Access. The previous development cycle concentrated heavily on underlying technical problems, including pathfinding and locomotion, before those changes reached the main branch earlier this month.
The shift back towards new mechanics follows an earlier Manor Lords systems overhaul, which introduced Affinities, new maps, artisan workstations and broader settlement changes.
If the current schedule holds, players on the testing branch should get their hands on cow breeding, Wide Valley and the construction changes before the end of July. The wider Manor Lords player base is expected to receive them by the end of August, with Development Perks next on Slavic Magic’s list.
