The Minecraft Farming Handbook/Animal Farming

The Basics intermediate Introduction Farming animals is very simple in Minecraft and anyone is able to do it. It provides high quality food, items for crafting armor, and many other products. You can also trade meat or leather for emeralds to trade with villagers. You can use these emeralds for anything, better armor, tools, enchanted books, etc. If you farm animals, you will be very rich in many aspects of your world. Tools Technically you can farm animals without the use of tools, however it is very inefficient. Turns out, punching forty cows to death is very time consuming, so you can use two different tools, the axe and the sword. Whilst others work, these are the best. Though both are viable in their own rights, definitively the sword is the best, but the list pros and cons for both are still written below and you can decide where to allocate your resources from there. +Tool:Pros:Cons:AxeCan break wood swiftly, allowing for construction of farms to happen faster and easierHigher crafting cost; unapplicability of fire aspect, looting, or sweeping edge; delay in attacks in Java EditionSwordLooting can be applied, increasing drop rates of mobs; Fire aspect can be applied, automatically cooking food without the use of a furnace or smoker; In Java Edition sweeping edge can be applied to a sword, killing multiple mobs and animals at once; Smaller delay in attacks on Java EditionBlocks cannot be broken swiftly I recommend putting enchantments on your diamond and Netherite tools, as it makes them more effective and last longer. For the sword, it is recommended to apply: Sharpness V for faster killing, Unbreaking III to make it last longer, Mending to allow it to repair itself whilst you farm, Fire Aspect to cook your food without the use of a furnace or smoker, and Sweeping Edge (Java Edition only) to kill much faster. For the axe recommend much of the same things are recommended: Sharpness V for faster killing, Unbreaking III to make your tool last longer, Mending to repair your axe whilst you farm, and Efficiency V to break wood lightning fast. Another useful tool, whilst not necessary, is the lead. Using a lead, you can lead animals wherever you want with less hassle, with increased effectiveness if using food to lead as well. Then, by right clicking (left trigger on console) you can tie the lead to a fence post, keeping the tied animal in place. To unattach, right click (left trigger) the part of the lead wrapped around the fencepost. You can also right click (left trigger) when looking the animal you are leading to retrieve your lead, making it reusable. Items To breed and lead animals, food and seeds found from harvesting crops is used. It is important, due to this, to make crop farms for the food used to breed the animal you want. Most common foods to feed animals are wheat, potatoes, seeds, and carrots. If you have an animal in mind you want to breed, look at their individual section of this page for information. Blocks There is one block essential for all farming, and another essential to a specific animal. One is the fence block. To prevent your animals from despawning, wandering off, or escaping, you must put them in an enclosure of fences/fence gates. To craft, it is very cheap, only requiring four planks and two sticks to craft three, with a ratio of 4.5 planks to 3 fences. Another block that is essential to a specific animal (though technically not required) is the grass block. It is used in sheep enclosures as after shearing a sheep, the only way it can replenish it's wool is if it eats a grass block, reverting it to dirt. If there is no grass, it can't grow back it's wool. However there is a method to farm wool that doesn't require grass, and that can be found in the sheep section of this page. Cows Introduction Cows are a highly sought after animal to farm for their high saturation and hunger restoring steak, and their valuable leather used in books and armor. They spawn in multiple biomes, including most grassy biomes. They can be found in forests (excluding cherry, badland wooded areas, and pale oak), swamps (excluding mangrove), jungles, plains (excluding meadows and snow). Spawning Breeding Products Sheep Introduction Spawning Breeding Products Chickens Introduction Spawning Breeding Products Pigs Introduction Spawning Breeding Products Horses Introduction Spawning Breeding Products Donkeys Introduction Spawning Breeding Products Mules Introduction Spawning Breeding Products Llamas Introduction Spawning Breeding Products Bees Introduction Spawning Breeding Products Mooshrooms Introduction Spawning Breeding Products Turtles Introduction Spawning Breeding Products Mechanics Inhumane Farming