Livestock care authority
Animal Care, Mood & Product Quality Guide
Raise Affection with a daily care loop, keep Mood separate, and prepare the individual animal for the correct Contest. Higher Affection improves possible product quality, but maximum Affection alone does not guarantee S Rank.
Short answer: pet each target animal once per day, keep its care routine consistent, check Mood before Contest day, resolve Cow Ghost if Mood cannot reach maximum, and do not confuse normal quality, brand status and Contest rank.
Everyday loop
Quick animal-care checklist
This compact routine belongs beside the broader daily checklist and species guide.
01
Feed if required
Check the Coop or Barn, but keep feed type, amount and missed-feed penalties unresolved until current data confirms them.
02
Pet once
One effective pet per animal per day is the supported Affection rhythm. A heart is the useful confirmation signal.
03
Collect when ready
Production intervals differ by species. Collect ready products without assuming every animal refreshes daily.
04
Check Mood
Before a Contest, verify the music-note display can reach maximum and investigate Cow Ghost interference.
Use the Daily and Weekly Checklist for the full farm routine, Livestock for species and housing, and Livestock Unlocks for acquisition conditions.
Two independent states
Affection is not Mood
These labels must stay separate in the UI, the care model and Contest troubleshooting.
Affection
Daily petting raises the bond
Petting is eligible once per day for Affection gain. The exact point gain, heart thresholds and full numeric scale are not canonical in the current repository. The Shrine skill Animal Friendship Technique increases Affection gained from petting, but no multiplier is published.
Review Shrine SkillsMood
Music notes are a separate condition
Mood uses a music-note-style display. The exact scale and increase or decrease factors remain unresolved, but maximum Mood is a known Livestock Contest factor. It is not a second name for Affection.
Current maximum display: Three music-note icons.
Contest readiness
Why high Affection can still miss S Rank
The current Livestock division exposes a useful rank boundary without requiring a hidden scoring formula.
| Rank | Affection | Required condition |
|---|---|---|
| B | 0 to 1 | Mood at maximum |
| A | 2 to 4 | Mood at maximum |
| S | 5 | Mood at maximum |
Enter the animal
Livestock Contest entry is the animal itself, not its Milk, Egg, Wool or other product.
Resolve Cow Ghost
Prevents livestock Mood from reaching maximum while present. This does not prove an Affection debuff.
Open Night AnomaliesPrepare before Day 27
Contests run on the 27th. Use the Contests guide for dates, rewards and separate Horse rules.
Species cadence
Adult products are not one universal daily loop
This table renders the current care model. Null means the repository does not support a safe exact answer.
| Animal | Class | Adult product | Cadence | Special care boundary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | Coop | Egg | Daily | Colored chicks and Roosters are separate from the normal egg-producing Chicken record. |
| Duck | Coop | Duck Egg | Daily | Affection can affect possible quality; exact interval conditions are not duplicated here. |
| Turkey | Coop | Turkey Egg | Unresolved | The current repository has conflicting cadence evidence. Do not rewrite Turkey as universally daily or every three days without a current-game confirmation. |
| Cow | Barn | Milk | Daily | Affection can affect possible quality; exact interval conditions are not duplicated here. |
| Sheep | Barn | Wool | Every few days | Affection can affect possible quality; exact interval conditions are not duplicated here. |
| Goat | Barn | Goat Milk | Daily | Affection can affect possible quality; exact interval conditions are not duplicated here. |
| Cashmere Goat | Barn | Cashmere | Every 5 days | The five-day adult production cadence is preserved separately from daily products. |
| Pig | Barn | Truffle | Variable | Outdoor grazing as a Truffle condition remains unconfirmed in the current repository. |
| Horse | Horse | Horse Tail | Daily | Horse has a separate Contest division; livestock numeric rank rules are not inherited automatically. |
Known cadence examples include Goat Milk daily, Horse Tail daily and Cashmere every 5 days. Turkey cadence is intentionally unresolved because current repository evidence conflicts. Pig Truffle is variable and its grazing dependency is not confirmed.
Care model
Feeding, grazing and weather boundaries
The repository records several open questions. Keeping them open is safer than importing genre assumptions.
Indoor feed
Requirement, accepted feed, amount and missed-feed consequence are unresolved in the current care model.
Pasture grass
Grazing support, feed substitution, mood benefit and poultry behavior are not confirmed.
Weather
Rain, Thunderstorm and Snow indoor or outdoor behavior, door logic and grazing restrictions remain unknown.
Equipment
A Livestock Product Collector is listed in vendor data. Heater effect, range and required count remain unresolved.
Pig Truffle grazing is a high-value community report, not a promoted canonical condition. Do not describe Truffle as being laid; the current product is found or dug up. See Livestock for the species boundary.
Quality and branding
From care to branded deliveries
Normal quality and Contest branding are connected, but they are not the same state.
01
Affection
Higher Affection improves possible normal livestock-product quality.
02
Mood
Maximum Mood is required with Affection 5 for Livestock S Rank.
03
S Rank
The submitted individual animal becomes branded after the documented Contest result.
04
Deliveries
Branded products feed High-Quality Chief Deliveries and Greenhouse progression.
High-Quality livestock inputs
High-Quality Crops: Rice ×5, Tea ×5, Soybean ×5
High-Quality Livestock Products: Milk ×5, Egg ×5, Truffle ×5
High-Quality Animal Fiber: Wool ×5, Horse Tail ×5, Cashmere ×3
Brand scope
Branding applies to the individual animal that wins. It is not a confirmed species-wide flag, and older stored products are not confirmed to upgrade retroactively.
This is why Animal Care connects to Greenhouse unlocks, but does not duplicate the full Delivery Catalog.
Special cases
Keep species exceptions visible
Unlocks belong to Livestock Unlocks; this page only shows the care and quality implications.
Pig
Truffle production is variable. Outside grazing is suggested by community evidence but remains unconfirmed.
Turkey
Turkey Egg cadence is unresolved in the current repository. Do not replace the conflict with a universal daily claim.
Cashmere Goat
Cashmere is recorded every 5 days after the adult state. It is not a daily product.
Horse
Horse Tail is daily in the Horse record, but Horse uses a separate Contest division and its own threshold remains unknown.
Open Horse guideColored chicks and Roosters are not silently merged into the normal Chicken egg record. See Festivals for the colored-chick source and Livestock Unlocks for acquisition.
Troubleshooting
Why quality or S Rank is not improving
Check state separation before changing feed, housing or species.
The Cow Ghost record is present; its documented reward is the Livestock Whistle, which calls nearby animals for convenience. It does not directly raise Affection.
Review WhistlesFAQ
Animal care questions
Species lists and unlock conditions remain on their specialist pages.
How often should I pet livestock?
The current care guidance supports one effective pet per animal per day for Affection gain. Repeated same-day petting should not be treated as additional confirmed progress.
Is Mood the same as Affection?
No. Affection and Mood are separate animal states. An animal can have maximum Affection while Cow Ghost keeps its Mood below maximum.
Does max Affection guarantee Livestock S Rank?
No. The current Livestock Contest rule also requires maximum Mood. With maximum Mood, the canonical table maps Affection 0 to 1 to B, 2 to 4 to A and 5 to S.
Does feeding or grazing guarantee better products?
The repository does not isolate accepted feed, missing-feed penalties, grass substitution or a universal grazing bonus. Do not import rules from another farming game.
What does Cow Ghost do to animals?
After the Livestock Barn route, Cow Ghost can prevent livestock Mood from reaching maximum while present. This is a Mood ceiling, not a confirmed Affection reduction.
What is the difference between product quality and branding?
Higher Affection improves possible normal product quality. A Livestock Contest S Rank brands the individual animal, which can then produce branded products. Old stored products are not confirmed to change retroactively.
Does Pig need to graze to find Truffle?
Recent player evidence suggests this, but the current repository does not confirm it. The public rule remains unresolved rather than absolute.
Do all animals produce every day?
No. Product cadence is species-specific. Cashmere is recorded as every 5 days, Horse Tail and several common products are daily, while Turkey and Pig remain bounded where cadence evidence conflicts or is variable.
Animal Interaction and Livestock Product milestones are indexed in Milestone Awards & Rewards.
Written by: Village in the Shade Guide Editorial Team
Last updated: August 27, 2026
Sources: Official publisher and storefront pages, released-game research and linked source notes.