Much like previous versions of the Farming Sim franchise, Farming Simulator 22 includes both farming and the ability to raise a number of different animals to earn money. With cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, horses, and bees to choose from, farming can be a bit daunting.
In this Farming Simulator 22 animal farming guide, we're going to talk about animals and the role they play in your million dollar farming empire. We'll list the animals below, from the most passive to the most labor-intensive, so you can prioritize which ones to add to your farm. Some require more attention than others, but not all reward time spent in the same way.
Farming Animals in Farming Simulator 22
bees and bees
Bees are one of the quickest and cheapest options to get started. Bees are one of the new animals in Farming Simulator 22 and are one of the best forms of passive income, with some caveats.
With bees, you just need to place them and provide a point where their honey will be sent. From there, the honey will be transported and either sold or used at greater capacity through the production chain.
That said, you can raise bees for as little as $1, though I'd suggest "going big" and picking up the largest hive which costs $300 and, on normal difficulty at least, usually gives a palette of honey per day.
Besides being a cheap form of income, bees also give a small yield bonus to potatoes, canola, and sunflowers if planted near these fields. It should be noted that you may only have one honey collection point, so make sure you have it in a busy location to track production.
Honey can be sold as is or used in grain production if you have the appropriate facility.
Chicken(s) Small(s)
Chickens are the second most passive source of income when it comes to animals in Farming Simulator 22, and raising chickens is a great way to really earn some cash early in your career.
Chickens are cheap animals. They cost $5 each, plus delivery charges if you don't have your own trailer to haul livestock. There are two choices available for coops for chickens: a relatively inexpensive pasture for $6 that can hold 000 chickens or the $30 US coop that can house 79 ​​chickens.
The best value here is to go for the larger chicken coop. First, grazing for all animals is more work because it requires water, which you will need to bring to them. Chicken coops and barns automatically refill water for your animals.
Second, buy a rooster to fertilize the eggs - I would recommend 10 rooster for every 6 hens. Having more chickens is a better long term strategy than selling eggs in the short term. I started my chicken coop with 60 roosters and 246 hens, and after my second year my chicken population was XNUMX without buying more chickens.
Chickens can eat wheat, barley and sorghum, all of which are bountiful crops. However, choose sorghum as a fodder crop as it can be used for chickens and horses.
Dreaming of fabric sheep
The sheep themselves are a good source of income. These are the last that I would call passive. With a sheepfold, your only concern is providing grass or hay to feed them and keep them happy.
Sheep may come at a higher price of $97 for the best barn capable of housing 000 sheep, but they are animals well worth the investment for their by-product: wool.
Wool sells well as is, averaging $1-000 per m1, which puts a full pallet at around $300. But the real money is turning the wool into fabric in a spinning mill, which more than doubles the selling price.
Until the cows come home
Cows are one of the most iconic farm animals, so you can start here when adding animals to your farm, but they require more work than bees, chickens, and sheep in Farming Simulator 22.
To be happy and productive, cows need a mix of feeds known as the total mixed ration. The RTM is made of grass, hay, and silage, which you'll need to craft yourself, unless you buy the automated barn for US$722. It does, however, have an automated feeding robot that takes care of the animals for you. However, you will have to provide grass, hay and silage, which takes time and effort.
Cows are animals that will also produce slurry, which can be used as liquid fertilizer for your fields. If you add straw to the barn, they will make manure instead, which can also be used as fertilizer or sold to the biogas plant to earn some extra cash.
Calm down
Horses are planted firmly in the list of active animals, but are slightly less upkeep than cows when it comes to the materials needed to raise them. For horses you will need straw for bedding, oats/sorghum and hay for feed, and if you choose a barn over a paddock (which is highly recommended) you don't have to worry about water.
Horses consume less resources than time.
There are no by-products for sale from horses. Instead, horses are animals that require your time in the form of training, which increases their value. You will need to drive them daily and keep them well maintained to boost their health and fitness and increase their value.
You can buy a horse for $500 and after seven months of feeding, riding, and grooming, sell it for around $1, which isn't a bad profit. I have tested all the different breeds of horses, and there is no monetary difference between the animals.
Pigs in the mud
Pigs are the most resource intensive animals available in the base game. Pigs need a good mix of crops to meet their feed needs, with the following crops ranked from most to least effective:
- Maize/Sorghum — 50%
- Wheat/barley — 25%
- Soy/Canola/Sunflower — 20%
- Potatoes/sugar beets — 5%
Although you don't necessarily have to feed them all of the above crops, you won't be maximizing your profits otherwise.
To avoid growing all these crops, provide the pigs with pig food from the store. However, this is not the most cost-effective choice, as each 1L food pallet costs $000.
Pigs are animals that will make slurry as a by-product but not manure (even if you add straw to the barn, which is needed as bedding material). However, they must be in the barn to do so; it cannot be produced in hog pastures, making barns a better option for making more money.
Like horses and some cows, you earn money by raising and selling pigs. There is no price difference between the breeds – cosmetic only – and if all their needs are met, the pigs will usually breed every 4-5 months once they reach the appropriate age.
To maximize profits with these animals, invest yourself in an animal trailer to transport your pigs (and horses/cows) to the animal vendor to avoid paying transportation costs.
And that covers the basics of raising and caring for animals in Farming Simulator 22. Animals can be a fun and profitable addition to your farm, as well as something to occupy your time between planting and harvesting crops. . They're also a great way to make extra money during the winter months when farming isn't an option.
