Harvest Moon: It's a Wonderful Life, SE - Animal care and Milking guide

Animals in the game can be obtained in many different ways though usually through breeding or purchasing them from the ledger. Whilst some animals are your pets they are mostly there to provide you with a source of income in the form of different produces such as eggs, milk or wool.  Your animals can get sick and may die if you mistreat them but by simply ignoring them you can also severely reduce the quality of produce that they can give you so it's important to look after them well. To start off with, let's look at some basic care tips so you can get the most out of your farm animals.

Basic care tips:  

• Don’t leave animals out in the rain, only dog and horse don’t mind. 
•  If animals are inside feed them twice a day by putting enough food in troughs 
• Hug and talk to cows, when they are awake, twice a day; morning and afternoon. 
• Don’t wake any animals up by brushing/hugging etc.  
• Milk cows twice a day, collect eggs from chickens once/twice a day 
• Buy the brush and brush animals twice a day alongside usual care. 
• If animals are visibly dirty then wash them outside, by the trough, with the brush. Otherwise they will get sick.  
• If animals get sick buy the medicine from the ledger, they won’t get sick if you look after them properly.  
• Don’t just give cows good fodder – this will make them ill, ensure field is fertilized so you don’t run out of fodder. 

 

Dog: 

You’ll get a choice of two dogs at the beginning of the game. It gets its own doghouse outside your house and a bowl but you don’t need to feed it. It will continually love you and never die or get sick from a lack of food. If you want, you can give it wild plants as it all turns into dog food once it’s in the bowl. You can train it which uses no in-game time and, apparently, it can later herd your cows in and out of a milking room which I’m unsure of. I’m quite sure it’s the cows themselves that learn how to do it, but feel free to train him if you want.

Cat: 

Obtained from Romana, it’s a black cat and is like the dog in the sense that it doesn’t do much and doesn’t need to eat either. You can’t get different coloured cats unfortunately but I like having it around as cats are awesome.

Horse: 

You will get the horse in Summer, it’s a free gift from Takakura and he’ll bring it around midday. I recommend you ship something i.e.: ship 1 milk on the night of the 10th of Spring so you receive the horse on the 1st of Summer. If you don’t ship anything for the entire month then you could end up getting it as late as Fall which isn’t very efficient, so try to ship something either on the 10th of Spring or very early Summer. 

The colour of the horse you get is random but could be either: white, tan or dark brown. If you don’t like the colour of your horse you can reload your save before Takakura gives you the horse and get a different colour. It is not down to which slot you are saving your game in, it’s just random. 

You can ride your horse to get places faster whilst using less energy, so you don’t tire out so quickly and can do other things. You can brush it, hug it and feed it but it will never die and it’s not an essential thing to do. Your horse will get dirty like all animals so wash it when it does with the brush by the drinking water area outside. Sometimes the horse will roll around on the ground while it’s idle, this can be annoying, wait until it’s finished so you can hop on its back. Later, feed it apples when you get a fully grown apple tree. Horses like apples; fact.

Cows:
 
You start with a single, adult normal cow but in the ledger you’ll find you can purchase several different cows and bulls. You’ll see there are four different types; normal, brown, marble and star. Brown and Marble cows cost the same because they produce milk which sells for the same, however, if you check below at the butter and cheese prices you’ll notice the difference. Turns out, brown cows give slightly better value when it comes to cheese and butter.

Bought for:
 
Normal Bull – 3000G 
Normal Cow – 4000G 
Brown Bull - 4000G 
Brown Cow - 5000G 
Marble Bull - 4000G 
Marble Cow - 5000G 
Star Bull - 6000G 
Star Cow - 7000G

Cows are an essential resource on your farm and, generally, I wouldn’t recommend ever selling them unless you’re upgrading to a better cow. Bear in mind that before you can get milk off of a cow you will need to wait until it is mature and has given birth. Times may vary by a couple of days, but this is generally how longs certain things take:

Bulls: Take 25 to 30 days until they are adults. This is from the moment they arrive on your farm. If they were born on your farm it will take longer, by about 10 days, as they start out smaller. Once they are adults you can ‘milk’ them which gives a green heart, bulls don’t give uh, milk, so I wouldn’t recommend you do that.

Cows: Take about 30 days from when you buy them to when they are adults, same as the bulls. It will again take longer if your calf is born on your farm by roughly an additional 10 days. If you don’t know whether your cows or bulls are adult yet you can try milking them, if they’re too young it’ll just be a question mark. You may also notice the height difference by measuring yourself up against them and then an adult cow.

Pregnancy: Cows are pregnant for between 15 and 20 days and still give you milk whilst they are pregnant, so don’t be afraid to impregnate them early on in the year. They only stop giving milk very close to the birth when they go into isolation, approximately 9 days after first becoming pregnant.

After they have given birth they will give mother’s milk, which you feed to the calf, for about 4 or 5 days. After they have stopped giving mother’s milk they will return to regular milk. The first time your cow is pregnant you’ll be shown how to deal with it, after that, you’re on your own. If you can’t remember what to do you simply go into the tool shed alongside the barn and activate the isolation cage at the back, by the cupboard. This will put the cow in isolation. You’ll know when to do this because you’ll notice your pregnant heffer’s udders have turned a painful looking red colour. Around this time, she’ll stop giving milk entirely. Probably because it would really hurt. Cows remain inisolation for approximately 6 days and will often give birth in the morning. If you don't like the gender or breed of your calf then you can reload your save to try and get a different one.

Milking: Since milk is going to be one of your most prized commodities I’ll give you a breakdown of everything there is to know about the stuff. To begin with, you can milk your cow twice a day as long as you’re doing it with several hours in between. A good example of when to milk your cow is when you wake up, as long as the cow is awake, so around 7am, and then again in the afternoon at about 2pm. Before you milk your cow you should talk to it, nuzzle it and brush it providing you’ve bought the brush from Van already. Never wake your cows up, it’ll decrease their affection for you so just wait until their eyes are open. You should also not milk your cows when they are eating. If your cows are dirty then you should wash them by using the brush on them whilst they’re near the trough outside. You can’t wash your animals inside the barn. 

Your cows will give milk throughout the year and the quantity and quality of the milk depends on how well you are caring for them. When you first start the game you’ll be getting 2 cans of B grade milk, which is poor quality milk. If you are really on board with hugging and talking and making sure they stay outside in the nice weather you can get to 4 cans of A milk by the end of the first day. As long as a red heart is showing then you’re getting affection points for it, once you get the red heart don’t bother trying again for a few hours as you’ll just end up irritating the animal. When it’s Summer you may notice your milk quality drops back down to B or the quantity will reduce; this is normal, annoying, but normal. Something else to bear in mind that as the year goes on your cow will give less and less milk as they’re ‘running out’ so to speak and it’s a sign to get them pregnant again.

You can milk your cows with either your hands or the milker tool; there is no difference except I find the milker to do it more slowly, especially as you have to get it out of your inventory. Truly, the only difference there is is that later on in the game it will affect your child’s interests in either rancher or scholar.

Milking room: From the start you will notice in the ledger that you can purchase a milking room for a rather hefty 60,000G. You’ll have plenty of time to make that money but when it comes to it you’ll have to judge whether or not it’s worth buying it. The milking room is a means of having all your cows milked at once, making light work of the job. Your cows will eventually go into the milking room by themselves once they have done it often enough, although it may require your dog to be trained for him to herd them inside. I’m unsure of the criteria. I don’t find milking to take that long but, if you have the money, go for it.

You’ll notice below I’ve put all the milk prices for all the different types of cow you can get. To get A grade milk some basic animal care will get you there pretty quickly, especially if you keep on top of all the hugging, talking, brushing and so on that I keep telling you to do. I’ve been able to get A grade milk by the second day by keeping up with it and it’s worth it in terms of price. S grade milk is trickier and don’t expect it to come any time soon. You can feed your cows a good fodder now and then and it will bump up the value, but you have to pay for the good fodder and too much will make your cows sick. If you have maxed out hearts on your cows they’ll give you S milk automatically. You’ll also see down below that there are options for cheese and butter. These are made when you buy a food processing room, very expensive and you likely won’t get one until the second chapter, which is no big deal. 

Milk prices:

	B grade	A grade	S grade
Normal	75g	115g -> 138g	150g -> 180g
Brown	115g-> 138g	175g	225g
Marble	115g-> 138g	175g	225g
Star	270g	405g	540g

Mother's milk: 75G


Cheese prices:

	B grade	A grade	S grade
Normal	225G	225G	300G
Brown	225G	300G	300G
Marble	225G	225G	300G
Star	300G	300G	300G

Mother’s cheese: 115g

Butter prices:

	B grade	A grade	S grade
Normal	225G	225G	300G
Brown	225G	300G	300G
Marble	225G	225G	300G
Star	300G	300G	300G

Mother’s butter: 115g

Milk processing room: A building you will get later on, it costs 30,000G from the ledger and it will take several days to build. Once it is built you can individually put milk into either machine and get out one piece of cheese or one slab of butter. The quality and appearance of the cheese or butter will depend on the quality of milk put into the machine. It can be a time consuming process but many recipes require these enhanced items. As you can see from the chart you may as well use B grade milk from a star cow, as it makes no difference in the price of the produced item. Don’t waste your S grade milk on butter and cheese. Alternatively, buy a cheaper, Brown cow as A grade milk is a much more common commodity than Star cow B grade milk.

Breeding: Now, to breed the cows you’ll need an adult bull and an adult cow but when you buy them here they’ll be young and will take some time to grow up. When you breed your cows you can either breed them with a ‘miracle potion’ or with a bull you have on your farm. In the long run, buying a bull is more affordable because once he’s grown up you can use him over and over whereas with a miracle potion you have to buy one for each pregnancy. 

Cost of miracle potion:

Normal - 2500G  
Brown - 3500G  
Marble - 3500G  
Star - 5500G
 
You can interbreed the different variations of cow that are available and I find this is an affordable way of getting star cow calves. If you buy a star cow and a normal bull and breed them there are four possible outcomes; a normal female cow, a normal male bull, a star cow and a star bull. The outcome is random so if you get a normal male bull then you can reload and find yourself with a star cow instead. It’s a lot cheaper to go to a little effort rather than fork out an additional 3000G buying a star bull. After all, all that essentially matters is that your female producing cows are high quality so you get the best price for your milk and dairy products.

If your calf is born a male I’d recommend a reload as you want as many milk producing cows as possible with only one steer. Keep in mind that your barn space is limited, so use it wisely.

Chickens:

Bought for: 
Hen: 900G 
Rooster: 900G 

Sold for: 
Adults: 450g 
Chicks: 150g 
Egg: 40G 
Fertilized egg: 50G 
Golden egg: 300g –> 360g 

Chickens are bought from the ledger and to begin with I recommend you just buy one hen or one hen and one rooster. Your hen will lay one or two eggs a day and, if you also have a rooster, there is a chance they will be fertilized. Your chickens will wake up around 5:30am in the morning and the females will lay their eggs shortly after waking. You’ll know they are laying an egg because they’ll sit down and not get up for a bit whilst rocking back and forth slightly. When an egg has been lain you’ll know if it’s fertilized because it will be slightly pink in colour and will say that it’s fertilized once you pick it up. 

If you get a fertilized egg stick it in the incubator at the back and, after 5 days, it will hatch into a fat, fluffy chick. Alternatively, if you already have an egg in the incubator, you can just leave it on the ground. If you pick up a fertilized egg you won’t be able to put it back down so check whether it is one first by holding a chicken over it and clicking ‘check’.

The chick will be either male or female and they will say which at birth, if it’s a male it’s essentially useless but you should still wait until it’s an adult before you sell it as you’ll get more money for it. If it’s a female then you should keep it as you’ll get more eggs and they are good for recipes, gifts and general food. You feed your chickens by putting bird feed in the centre of the chicken coop which will last several days depending on how many chickens you have. You should hug your birds morning and evening but talking to them has no effect on their affection, although putting them back down again does.

During the Spring and Summer you can carry your chickens outside and put them in the field. This way, they’ll forage their own food and won’t use up the bird feed. They may also prefer being outside in the sunny weather, after all, what chicken doesn’t want to be free range. Just like the larger animals though you shouldn’t keep them out in the rain as it may make them sick. 

Chicken yard: Later on in the game you can purchase a chicken yard for 10,000G. It’s basically a fence that encloses an area next to the chicken coop in which you can put your chickens. Essentially, it’s a waste of space and money but if you want to add things to your farm then you’ll probably end up buying it. You will still have to carry your chickens out one by one as there’s no handy button. 

By looking after your hens really well they’ll eventually start to lay a golden egg now and then. Chickens will start to lay golden eggs at around 8 or 9 hearts. You can check how much they love you using the diary by your bed. Golden eggs are worth a lot of money so it’s worth lavishing attention on your chickens for this additional income.

Ducks:

Sold for: 
Adults: 500G 
Ducklings: 200G 

You can only get ducks by purchasing the duck pond for 2500G in Chapter 1. They cannot be bought but, once you have them, they can be bred. In around Fall time of Chapter 2, you should sleep in so that your wife wakes you up. She’ll inform you that you have ducks in your pond. You can keep them, there’s one male and one female, but they don’t lay any eggs and are there to add a little variety to your farm. Now, even though they don’t lay eggs, you can still get ducklings. The logic of this is pretty screwed up but basically; your hens will lay eggs and there is now a chance that one of them will hatch a duckling. I am quite sure that the ducks should be housed with the chickens to do this so they can get on with their inter-breeding activities. 

Goat:

Bought from Van for: 4500G, it can be haggled down to 1200g 
Sold for: 1000G through the ledger

Goat milk: 115g -> 138g 
Goat cheese: 155g 
Goat butter: 150g  

Thankfully, the special edition (PS2) version of this game means that your goat can be sold but in the original game version, it could not be, leading to lots of angry gamers having to slowly kill off their goat just to get rid of it. Your goat will always be female and you can only get one so you can’t breed goats at all. You can however get goats milk from them, eventually your goat will run out of milk and you can then sell it to free up space in the barn or keep it as a cloven hoofed companion.
 
Sheep:

Bought for: 1500g
Sold for: 750G

Dirty Wool: 75g
Wool Grade B: 115g
Wool Grade A: 300g
Gold Wool: 600g -> 720g
 
Like the goat the sheep cannot be bred, you can only get male ones. Unlike the sheep it can be bought in the regular fashion; from the ledger. When deciding whether the sheep is an investment or not it’s important to bear in mind that you can only shear him once a month and, in that space of time, you could get a lot more money from a cow. However, a variety of animals is nice and if you want your child to be a rancher then having different animals helps influence that career path. You’ll notice above I put a rather attractive price on ‘gold wool’, gold wool behaves in the same way as golden eggs; it’s only from really healthy, happy animals. Brushing, hugging, talking to and keeping him outside in nice weather is essential to have your sheep produce golden wool. As long as you hug and talk and so on twice a day, every day, you’ll get gold wool in no time.