One of the main livestock animals—and also a great source of income—in Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is the cow. You can buy one at Barley, Yodel Ranch for 6,000 G. After purchase, the cow will be delivered straight to your barn, where you can name it and raise it.

Adult cows produce milk every day. If you enter one of your cows in the Cow Festival and win, it’ll start producing Gold Milk (Milk G). To enter the contest, your cow needs to have 9 hearts or more.

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Growth Stages

Cows go through three growth stages:

• Calf – Baby cows that can’t produce milk yet. Calves are obtained through breeding and take about 15 days to grow into a young cow.
• Young Cow – This is the stage of a cow you buy from Yodel Ranch. With proper care, it’ll grow into an adult in 14 days.
• Adult Cow – Adult cows can produce milk daily as long as they’re happy, healthy, and not pregnant.

Winning the Cow Festival with an adult cow will upgrade its product to Milk G, which sells for more than regular milk.

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Breeding

Healthy adult cows can be bred using a Miracle Potion, which costs 3,000 G at Yodel Ranch. During pregnancy, cows won’t produce milk or be able to enter festivals.

Pregnancy lasts 21 days, and after giving birth, the cow can start producing milk again. Just talk and brush your pregnant cow daily until it gives birth.

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Daily Care

To keep your cow happy and productive:

• Feed it daily with fodder.
• Talk to it.
• Brush it occasionally.
• Let it graze outside on sunny days.
• Bring it inside during bad weather.

If a cow goes unfed for a day, it won’t produce milk the next day (or even the one after). Leaving a cow outside during rain or storms can make it sick. Sick cows won’t get better on their own—you’ll need to buy Animal Medicine from Yodel Ranch. If left untreated too long, the cow might die.

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Fodder

Cows eat fodder, a type of dried grass. You can get fodder in two ways:

1. Buy it at Yodel Ranch for 20 G each.
2. Grow your own by buying Grass Seeds (500 G) from the Supermarket, planting them in your field, and harvesting them with a sickle.

Each patch of grass gives one fodder, and grass will regrow after a few days. You can also let your cows graze directly on it during sunny days—just don’t forget to bring them inside when the weather turns bad.

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Affection System

Cow affection starts at 10 AP and maxes out at 255 AP (1 heart = 25 AP). You can raise affection by doing simple daily tasks:

Action	Affection Change
Talk to the cow	+3 AP
Feed with grass outside	+2 AP
Feed with fodder inside barn	+1 AP
Not feeding the cow	-9 AP
Hitting with tools	-9 AP
Dog barking at cow	-10 AP
Leaving cow out in bad weather	-120 AP

It takes a minimum of 48 days of consistent care to reach 10 hearts. Higher affection means higher quality milk!

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Products

Milk

Adult cows produce milk once per day. The quality depends on their affection level:

Milk Type	Sell Price	Requirement
Milk S	100 G	1–3 hearts
Milk M	150 G	4–7 hearts
Milk L	200 G	8–10 hearts
Milk G	300 G	Win Cow Festival

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Cheese

To make cheese, you’ll first need to upgrade your Barn. Then ask Saibara to build a Cheese Maker for 20,000 G and 1 Adamantite Ore.

The Cheese Maker converts milk into cheese, which sells for more than regular milk:

Cheese Type	Sell Price	Requires
Cheese S	300 G	Milk S
Cheese M	400 G	Milk M
Cheese L	500 G	Milk L
Cheese G	600 G	Milk G