How to Milk Cows in Stardew Valley

Getting Milk from a cow is a common daily chore for those who are playing Stardew Valley alone. If you are playing co-op and farming is your major role, you would need to learn how to milk cows.

Just like in any other farming simulator, Milk is a common farm product that you can also obtain in Stardew Valley. Getting Milk is easy, but you may need a couple of things to do before you can regularly get this staple item in the game.

Build a Barn

To milk cows in Stardew Valley, you will need a Barn for your cows first. You can hire Robin to build a Barn for you by going to the Carpenter’s Shop, which is located in the northeast of the town. 

Before going to Robin, make sure that:

• You have 6,000g, 350 Wood, and 150 Stones as payment.
• You also need to secure enough space in your farm for your Barn.

If you do not have enough materials, you may opt for buying the materials from Robin instead if you have extra money. 

Buy a Cow

After 3 days, your Barn will be complete. Then, you can now buy a cow from Marnie’s Ranch. Her shop is located at the Cindersap Forest, south of your farm. 

Each Dairy Cow costs 1500g. You can buy up to 4 cows for every Standard Barn that you have.

After buying and naming your first cow, you can then check it inside your Barn. Take note that:

• Cows bought from the Ranch are young and cannot be milked yet. 
• You need to wait 5 days for your cow to mature before you can milk them. 
• You should feed your cow with Hay every day or let them graze outside by opening the Barn’s door.

Buy a Milk Pail

Before you can milk cows in Stardew Valley, you will need a tool that is designed to get milk from cows — the Milk Pail. This tool becomes available for 1000g from Marnie’s Ranch after buying your first cow. 

When your cow is already mature, you can now milk it using the Milk Pail that you bought. To milk a cow:

• Select the Milk Pail tool in your inventory.
• Walk near your cow.
• Left-click your mouse or press the button for using the tools on your gamepad.

After using the Milk Pail, you now have your first-ever Milk obtained from your cow in the game. Keep in mind that a cow can only produce one bottle of Milk every in-game day. 

You can use Milk as an ingredient for cooking or ship it for extra money. It is also a good gift for bachelorettes like Leah and Penny.

You also need to feed and interact with them regularly to increase their hearts. If your cow has 5 hearts, it will start producing Large Milk.

And there you go! That’s all the basics that you need to know on how to milk cows in Stardew Valley. If you have more questions regarding Milk and cows in the game, feel free to drop them below and we will answer them as soon as possible.