There are plenty of things to do as you settle into your new life in Pelican Town when you start a new game of Stardew Valley, and while there’s a heavy emphasis on crop farming throughout, raising an assortment of animals can be just as valid a way to earn money in the game.

With almost a dozen unique animals to find (some far rarer and more exotic than others), two upgrades for both the Barn and the Coop, and plenty of hay to collect around the farm, here’s everything you need to know about raising animals in Stardew Valley.

Updated on April 4, 2024 by Gabrielle Castania: With the recent release of the Version 1.6 update for Stardew Valley, we’re updating several of our Stardew Valley guides to bring them in line with all the new things and changes in the update.

How To Get Animals On Your Farm

All Animals And How To Get Them

There are several different types of chickens in Stardew Valley including regular Chickens, Blue Chickens, Golden Chickens, and Void Chickens. We've got guides to help you find each one!

After obtaining an animal, choose a place for them to live on your farm, which requires one of two types of building.

Build Barns And Coops Before Buying Livestock

Before you can begin buying animals, you'll need places for them to live, meaning you'll need a Barn for the majority of your livestock, and a Coop for your birds. To do this, bring materials and gold to Robin at her shop, and she'll spend the next few days building you a new structure.

Once built, Barns and Coops have two upgrades each, with both receiving a big version and a later deluxe version, which hold four more animals each time and permit the addition of new kinds of animals as well. You'll buy animals from Marnie's Ranch, just South from the farm.

Animals will be delivered as babies and need to mature before producing any product. Each animal's maturing process varies.

All Barn Upgrades

* Pregnancy is only possible in Big and Deluxe Barns and can be manually switched on and off by clicking on your animal to interact and bring up their individual heart menu.

Each barn consumes a 7x4 space on the farm.

All Coop Upgrades

The Coops all require a 6x3 clearing on your farm to place, but upgrades are applied to existing buildings and do not require placement.

Feed Your Animals And Let Them Roam

By leaving patches of grass on your farm or by planting new ones from grass starters, your animals can graze on grass on the farm. On sunny days in any season but winter, be sure to open the doors on the Barns and Coops to let the animals out. If you'd like to keep them in one space, consider building a fence with a gate.

New in the 1.6 update is Blue Grass, which causes animals to gain double the hearts that day. It grows natively on the Meadowlands farm, but Blue Grass starters are available in the Walnut Room for use on other types of farms.

Once a day, you'll need to be sure to feed the animals, which can be done by either leaving hay inside the feeding troughs in your Barns and Coops or by stocking any autofillers that may be included in your building upgrades, which automatically place on portion of food per animal per day until empty.

By building a Silo from Robin's shop, you'll be able to store hay you chop down from grasses on the farm.

Additionally, animals have a heart level to track your affection, and the higher the level, the better quality product they can produce. To raise this level, make sure they have food to eat and pet them daily.

Luckily, animals don't get sick in Stardew Valley even when left out in the rain or not being fed for several months.

Animal products will be of our qualities: normal, silver, gold, or iridium, and you'll need to improve your bonds with your animals to improve the quality of the items you receive.

Regardless, be sure to milk cows and collect chicken eggs to begin collecting the most standard of animal products. Upgrades unlock new kinds of animals for the farm, so be sure to check what you need for the Community Center when making your livestock decisions.

Sell Animal Products Or Turn Them Into Artisan Goods

The easiest way to immediately begin making money with your animals once they're producing for you is by selling raw animal products like milk and eggs as-is when you receive them. The sale prices for these are listed in the table below, sorted by quality.

These prices are current as of the 1.6 update in March 2024 and are the base sale price for each product. If your professions change your sales prices in any way, they may be different from ours.

Put an auto-grabber by the door to immediately collect all animal products from inside the barn for easier collection! This only works with items inside the structures, meaning Truffles don't count.

Sale Prices For Animal Products By Quality

Craft Artisan Goods To Increase Sale Prices

Like with plenty of your crops, you'll be able to use farm machines to produce artisan goods from animal products. It takes time to craft these products, but taking such time dramatically increases the sales price of the raw animal good from which it came.

Artisan goods made from animal products include:

• Cheese.
• Cloth.
• Dinosaur Mayonnaise.
• Duck Mayonnaise.
• Goat Cheese.
• Mayonnaise.
• Truffle Oil.
• Void Mayonnaise.

Experiment with what works best for your farm and your plans, but raising animals is a great way to make money in Stardew Valley!