Stardew Valley - How to milk cows

Once you start to build your farm in Stardew Valley, you may want to earn more income from animal produce. Cows are a great way to do this, and milk is one of the easiest ways to earn money once you get past the initial hurdles. Also, it can be used for making recipes and you can give it away as a gift to some villagers, too. So we're here to show you how to milk cow.

Read More: Stardew Valley: How to build a barn

How to get cows

There are a couple of steps to take before you can start milking the cows you've raised. Once you've built a barn to house them, you need to actually get the animals onto your farm. So here's how:

Buy a cow

Once you have built a barn, you can go and buy a cow. To do this, head to Marnie's ranch, just south of your farm, and walk into it. Marnie is notorious for almost never being at her shop, so be sure to check our character hub to see when she's going to be behind the till.

If Marnie is behind the till, walk up to it and interact with it. Select "purchase animals" and you should be able to buy a cow. After choosing the barn that the cow will live in and naming it, Marnie will deliver the animal straight to your farm.

Wait for the cow to mature

A baby cow will not produce milk. You must wait until the cow has matured. To check how old your cow is, walk up to them and interact with them. This should tell you how old the cow is and the word baby will be in brackets if it's still too young.

Buy a milk pail

To be able to milk a cow once it has matured, you need to own a milk pail. Again, go to see Marnie and interact with the till. Select the "shop for supplies" option and purchase a milk pail. It's useful to place a chest inside your barn where you can store your milk pail so it doesn't take up valuable inventory space. By storing it in a chest inside the barn, you can grab it every morning before you milk your cows.

Allow pregnancy

When your cow has matured, interact with it until the little menu comes up that shows you the animal's age and heart level. On the side of this menu, you should see some udders. Make sure that there is not an X on them. If there isn't an X on the udders, you are allowing them to get pregnant and produce milk.

Milk the cows

So now we have everything we need to milk a cow. To do this, you need to equip the milk pail to your inventory and walk up to the cow. Then press and hold your action button with the milk pail equipped. This milks the cow, and you will naturally stop when the cow has no more milk left.

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So that's all there is to it! Once you have covered the first few basic steps, you can regularly get milk in Stardew Valley, and this animal item can be used in recipes and to make cheese. If you're enjoying raising animals then be sure to check out our guide on how to build a coop, so you can raise ducks, chickens, and rabbits as well. We also have an extensive guide on how to fish, so you can make a good amount of profit. Happy farming!