In this guide, you will learn everything you need to know for how to raise barns and barn animals while playing Stardew Valley.
Barns are a type of building players can put on their farm to raise cattle. They are upgradable structures that allow you to raise more kinds of animals. Produce from these animals can be turned into valuable goods.
How to build a barn in Stardew Valley
To get started building a barn, hire Robin from the Carpenter’s shop located to the north of Pelican Town. Clean the area of your farm where you wish to place the Barn before building one.
- Read more: Stardew Valley – Rare Seed Guide
Each barn you place on the farm takes up a 7×4 space, no matter how far you upgrade it. To move the barn, speak to Robin outside of town, ask to build new buildings, then choose the ‘Move Buildings’ option in the bottom right.
How to level barns in Stardew Valley
Barns can be upgraded to Big Barn and Deluxe Barn. Here are the costs and materials associated with improvements.
Barn (base)
| Time to Build | 0 Days |
| Required Materials | 6,000 Gold, 350 Wood, 150 Stone |
| Animal Capacity | 4 |
| Supported Animals | Cow, Ostrich, Goat, Sheep, Pig |
| Unlocked Animals | Cow (purchase from Marnie), Ostrich (incubating eggs) |
| Size | 7×4 |
| Features | Hay Hopper, Feeding Bench |
Big Barn
| Time to Build | 2 Days (must be built on top of an existing barn) |
| Required Materials | 12,000 Gold, 450 Wood, 200 Stone |
| Animal Capacity | 8 |
| Supported Animals | Cow, Ostrich, Goat, Sheep, Pig |
| Unlocked Animals | Goat (purchase from Marnie) |
| Size | 7×4 |
| Features | Hay Hopper, Feeding Bench, Ability for Animals to get pregnant |
Deluxe Barn
| Time to Build | 2 Days (must be built on top of an existing barn) |
| Required Materials | 25,000 Gold, 550 Wood, 300 Stone |
| Animal Capacity | 12 |
| Supported Animals | Cow, Ostrich, Goat, Sheep, Pig |
| Unlocked Animals | Sheep (purchase from Marnie), Pig (purchase from Marnie) |
| Size | 7×4 |
| Features | Hay Hopper, Feeding Bench, Ability for Animals to get pregnant, Auto-Feed System |
Barn features in Stardew Valley
Player barns provide certain special features, depending on how far they have been upgraded. Here are each of them and what they do.
Hay Hopper and Feeding Bench
Base barns include the Hay Hopper, which allows players to access hay from the silos inside of the barn. A Feeding Bench is also included to lay out hay for the animals to consume.
Animal Pregnancy
After upgrading to a Big Barn, animals can get pregnant and reproduce. This option can be toggled on or off for each individual animal, with the exception of ostriches.
When an animal gets pregnant, a notification will appear saying they gave birth and will request a name be input for the new baby.
Auto-Feed System
After upgrading to a Deluxe Barn, the player can take advantage of an auto-feed system that distributes hay along the Feeding Bench as long as there is enough hay stored in the silo.
Types of animals in Stardew Valley
There are five types of animals that can be raised in the barn, including Cows, Ostriches, Goats, Sheep, and Pigs.
Cow
Cows are available once a base Barn has been built. Purchase them from Marnie for 1,500 Gold each.
| Produce sold (daily) | Milk, Large Milk |
| Artisan goods | Cheese (place Milk into a Cheese Press) |
| Tools needed | Pail |
| Sale price (full friendship) | 1,950 Gold |
| Varieties | White, Brown |
Players can sell the produce of Cows for varying prices depending on the quality.
- Milk (normal quality) – 125 Gold
- Milk (silver quality) – 156 Gold
- Milk (gold quality) – 187 Gold
- Milk (iridium quality) – 250 Gold
- Large milk (normal quality) – 190 Gold
- Large milk (silver quality) – 237 Gold
- Large milk (gold quality) – 285 Gold
- Large milk (iridium quality) – 380 Gold
- Cheese (normal quality) – 230 Gold
- Cheese (silver quality) – 287 Gold
- Cheese (gold quality) – 345 Gold
- Cheese (iridium quality) – 460 Gold
Ostrich
Ostriches can only be acquired by hatching an Ostrich Egg in an Ostrich Incubator.
| Produce sold (every 7 days) | Ostrich eggs |
| Artisan goods | Mayonnaise (placing Ostrich eggs into a Mayonnaise Machine) |
| Tools needed | N/A |
| Sale price (full friendship) | 20,800 Gold |
Players can sell the produce of Ostriches for varying prices depending on the quality.
- Ostrich Egg (normal quality) – 600 Gold
- Ostrich Egg (silver quality) – 750 Gold
- Ostrich Egg (gold quality) – 900 Gold
- Ostrich Egg (iridium quality) – 1,200 Gold
- Mayonnaise (normal quality) – 190 Gold
- Mayonnaise (silver quality) – 237 Gold
- Mayonnaise (gold quality) – 237 Gold
- Mayonnaise (iridium quality) – 380 Gold
Goat
Goats are available once a Big Barn has been built. Purchase them from Marnie for 4,000 Gold each.
| Produce sold (every other day) | Goat Milk, Large Goat Milk |
| Artisan goods | Goat Cheese (put Goat Milk into a Cheese Press) |
| Tools needed | Pail |
| Sale price (full friendship) | 5,200 Gold |
Players can sell the produce of Goats for varying prices depending on the quality.
- Goat Milk (normal quality) – 225 Gold
- Goat Milk (silver quality) – 281 Gold
- Goat Milk (gold quality) – 337 Gold
- Goat Milk (iridium quality) – 450 Gold
- Large Goat Milk (normal quality) – 345 Gold
- Large Goat Milk (silver quality) – 431 Gold
- Large Goat Milk (gold quality) – 517 Gold
- Large Goat Milk (iridium quality) – 690 Gold
- Goat Cheese (normal quality) – 400 Gold
- Goat Cheese (silver quality) – 500 Gold
- Goat Cheese (gold quality) – 600 Gold
- Goat Cheese (iridium quality) – 800 Gold
Sheep
Sheep are available once a Deluxe Barn has been built. Purchase them from Marnie for 8,000 Gold each.
| Produce sold (every third day) | Wool |
| Artisan goods | Cloth (put Wool into a Loom) |
| Tools needed | Shears |
| Sale price (full friendship) | 10,400 Gold |
Players can sell the produce of Sheep for varying prices depending on the quality.
- Wool (normal quality) – 340 Gold
- Wool (silver quality) – 425 Gold
- Wool (gold quality) – 510 Gold
- Wool (iridium quality) – 680 Gold
- Cloth (normal quality) – 470 Gold
- Cloth (silver quality) – N/A
- Cloth (gold quality) – N/A
- Cloth (iridium quality) – N/A
Pig
Pigs are available once a Deluxe Barn has been built. Purchase them from Marnie for 16,000 Gold each.
| Produce sold (every third day) | Truffles |
| Artisan goods | Truffle Oil (put Truffles into an Oil Maker) |
| Tools needed | N/A |
| Sale price (full friendship) | 20,800 Gold |
Pigs do not require interaction to get their product, and pigs will not produce anything if trapped inside the barn.
Players can sell the produce of Pigs for varying prices depending on the quality.
- Truffle (normal quality) – 625 Gold
- Truffle (silver quality) – 781 Gold
- Truffle (gold quality) – 937 Gold
- Truffle (iridium quality) – 1,250 Gold
- Truffle Oil (normal quality) – 1,065 Gold
- Truffle Oil (silver quality) – N/A
- Truffle Oil (gold quality) – N/A
- Truffle Oil (iridium quality) – N/A
How to feed animals in Stardew Valley
In order to raise healthy livestock on their farm, players will need to tend to the animals in the barn.
Animals must be fed one portion of hay or fresh grass every day, except for the first day they arrive (born, hatched, or purchased) or on festival days.
If players fail to feed their animals, they will not die but will stop producing products.
The sale price of all animal products increases by 20% if you have the Rancher Profession.
How to care for animals in Stardew Valley
Allowing barn animals to roam outside will help improve their mood, as animals require sunlight.
While outside, barn animals eat fresh grass growing on the farm as long as they can reach it. This counts as their daily portion, so they will not eat hay from the player’s stash. Even if they can reach the grass, they may not find it. If so, they will eat hay instead.
Animals will not leave the barn, even if the door is open, under particular conditions. If it’s after 6 PM if it’s Winter, or if it’s rainy, stormy, or snowy.
Around 6 PM, animals return to their assigned building to go to sleep. Close the doors at this time to prevent the animals from escaping in the morning prior to interacting with them.
Barn animals left out may be attacked by wild animals at night. If this happens, the attacked barn animals will be removed from the farm, leaving the rest of the animals in a negative mood.
Stardew Valley is a farm life simulation game developed by ConcernedApe and initially released in 2016 for PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It was later ported to Nintendo Switch in 2017, PlayStation Vita and iOS in 2018, and Android in 2019.