In Harvest Moon (SNES), there are 4 animals that you can take care of on your farm. Two of them are bought, and two of them are given to you. There are also some other Miscellaneous Animals.
Cows[]
Cost: 5000G. Each cow also requires 16 squares of grass to be planted (essentially, 2 bags of seed). You can have 12 cows.
Cows start out as calves, which do not need to be fed, but do not produce milk. They grow to maturity in 21 days, and start producing an amount of milk (obtained by using the Milker) based on their affection score. You can increase cows' affection by talking to them (+1 affection), and brushing them (+3 affection), once each per day. Small milk is worth 150G; medium milk (96+ affection) sells for 250G; and large milk (192+ affection) sells for 350G. The maximum affection any cow can have is 255, and to maximise your Ranch Master score, all cows should have affection over 200; this means that once they are producing large milk, you can stop brushing them.
Adult cows must be fed each day. If they are in the barn, this means placing a unit of fodder in the correct trough for each cow (they will not eat from any other trough). Missed feedings may make cows sick, which will stop them producing milk, and requires medicine (purchased from the livestock dealer) within a week or the cow will die. If you do not have enough fodder, you can purchase more from the livestock dealer; it is expensive, but the milk is still profitable.
Cows can also become cranky, by being exposed to bad weather or wild dogs, left outside after digging up a mole, or being hit with tools. Cranky cows lose affection and will not produce milk until they settle down, but they do not require medicine.
Taking your cows outside will mean that they eat ripe grass without you needing to cut it, but it isn't worth the extra time needed to brush and milk them. Keeping them inside is much more practical, and will protect them from all wild dogs and weather.
Chickens[]
Cost: 1000G. Each chicken also requires 16 squares of grass to be planted (essentially, 2 bags of seed). You can have 12 chickens.
Your chicken must be fed every day, as well. If you miss a day, they will stop laying eggs for 3 days. If you go more than 2 days without feeding chickens, they will also lay eggs again after 3 days. The days don't accumulate. If you don't have enough fodder, you can buy more from the livestock dealer; as with cows, it is expensive, but the eggs are still profitable.
You can place eggs in the incubator for an easy way to get the maximum amount of chickens for only the price of one. The egg will hatch after 3 days on the incubator. From there, it will take a week to fully grow and start laying its own eggs. However, this also bypasses the requirement to plant enough grass for each chicken, so it is easy to accidentally breed more chickens than you are ready for. Make sure you buy enough grass seed to keep up.
Chickens should never be left outside; like cows, they will eat ripe grass, but they will not produce eggs. They are also even more vulnerable to wild dogs and weather; whereas cows will get cranky, chickens will simply disappear and leave feathers behind. Keeping them in the barn is the way to go.
Dog[]
Cost: Free
Care: Absolutely nothing. The dog has no real purpose in the game; it won't scare away moles or wild dogs at night but keeping him outside will prevent fences from destroying. You can leave it outside during bad weather or hurricane and it will be fine.
However, to obtain the best ending cut scene, you must hug (pick up) your dog at least 100 times.
Horse[]
Cost: Free
Care: You have the option to talk to it and brush it everyday but you don't really need to. It doesn't need to be fed, either. Once it becomes an adult, you receive Saddlebags for it, which makes it into a portable Shipping Bin, drastically increasing the number of crops you can ship in a day. You will also be able to ride him around the farm.
Miscellaneous Animals[]
- Butterfly - They fly around in Spring and Summer. Purely for decoration.
- Frog - They pop out of the grass on your farm when you cut it.
- Moles - They come out of the ground when you hoe the ground. Can make your cows cranky if they're outside when you dig up a mole.
- P-Chan - The pet in the backroom of the Restaurant that belongs to Ellen. It chirps if you try talking to it. It is important in an event with Ellen.
- Rabbit - In Winter, you will find it with Eve's Grandfather. You can set it free by saying you will pay for it. He will then let the rabbit go for free.
- Squirrels - They can be found running around the Mountain. Adds Happiness.
- Wild Dogs - They aren't seen, but they disturn your animals at night. They can scare your cows and eat your babies if left alone at night. If your fences are broken, there is a chance that the wild dogs will come at night. The chance increases with the amount of broken fences, with a 100% chance at 15 broken fences. Your dog cannot scare away wild dogs!
- Fox - They can sometimes be seen running around the spa. Adds Happiness.