Is it even worth it to own animals? Stardew Valley

I finished my deluxe barn upgrade yesterday and went to buy pigs, which I heard were one of the best ways to make money, but they cost 16k EACH. I already have a cow and a goat, and while cheaper, make me only around 700 gold per day between the two of them. That’s horrible money.

Are pigs, and animals in general really worth it?

Pigs

On the one hand, yes. I have 66 pigs and make anywhere between $150k and $300k a day on truffles. Even on a bad day, I make enough money to have paid for all of them, and then some.

On the other, there’s really only so much you can do with money, in the long run (unless there’s a bunch of new single player stuff in v1.3 I don’t know about, as I play on the Switch). I have the gold clock, the earth, and water obelisks, the wand that sends me back to my farm.. all of the big-ticket stuff. I really don’t have a need for money anymore.

Goats

Goats are good money, they are the best candidate for casks if you don’t want to wait stupid amounts of time for wine (which takes so long that the per-day profit isn’t even very good). Plus aged goat cheese is a powerful healing item, so once you no longer really need the money you can just let them keep going and eat cheese.

Cows are not really a profit animal, they are for cooking/eating instead of selling/eating. As they produce twice as much as goats, you’ll have plenty.

Cheeses and mayo are liked by most of the town as gifts, while gifting truffle oil is a terrible idea as it won’t have any quality stars. A chicken coop is a cheap investment (remember an upgraded coop will let you hatch eggs for free chickens) and everyone will love you.

Cows, goats, and sheep can use the new auto-harvester, pigs cannot and also won’t do anything over the winter or when it rains. And animals in general are a good way to get profit out of areas of your farm you don’t have to actively maintain besides throwing down some grass starters in the spring. Particularly with the new auto-harvester, animals are basically low-maintenance free money for eternity once the initial cost of establishing them is paid.

Conclusion

Crops will always end up being worth more because they take up less space. Animals require moving around space, grass and a large building. Crops only take their own spot, and share scarecrows, sprinklers.

Animals’ worth is largely based on how much you enjoy ranching, but it would take a lot more time and manual labor to make as much money on animals as you do with crops.

I keep some pigs and ducks because I like them, but they’re not my money makers. I just like having lots of elements to each day, and animals are part of the morning routine.

Original Link – Continuation of discussion