Hi i think it would be a great idea if u had a silo with hay and a barn or coop and it will refill the hay thing without u having to actually get the hay out and put it in ( it helps if u have alot of them )
That would be overpowered, you'd hardly invest in the other upgrades if the auto feeder was in the first. That's why it's in the third upgrade, as you should work for a convenient feature. It's much like how the sprinklers come later as you upgrade your farming. I don't think the auto feeder upgrade will change from the 3rd upgrade.
I think this is overpowered too. It is too easy to build a brand-new coop or barn and have the auto-feed feature. I like it the way it is where you have to upgrade the Coop/Barn twice and THEN you get the auto-feeder. It gives you a reason to upgrade (besides having more farm animals) and feels like an accomplishment
Indeed, it's also the reason to unlock more animals. For the coop, just chickens, then the second upgrade is an incubator and ducks, then the third is the auto feeder and rabbits. Each step unlocks something. If the auto feeder was on the first, there would be no other reason to upgrade other than more space which most probably wouldn't waste their time on. I love how Ape set it up like this. Heck in harvest moon there is no automation, but there aren't any upgrades either; animal content was locked behind achievements which never did sit well with me.