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Breeding Reference

Quick lookup table for every breed's breeding window, gestation length, and litter sizes. Use this when planning herds: when you can buy juveniles for breeding, when males retire, how long pregnancy takes, and how many offspring to budget pen space for.

For per-species context (food, prices, breeding, complications) see the species factsheets and the Breeding Guide.

Note: This documentation was generated with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. If you spot an error, please open an issue.

Reference Table

Each breed has two rows - one for females, one for males. Gestation and litter size are female-only stats, so the male row leaves those columns blank.

Species Breed Sex Breeds from Breeds until¹ Gestation Peak litter (max)²
Cattle Swiss Brown Female 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) 10 mo 1 (max 3)
Male 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) - -
Cattle Holstein Female 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) 10 mo 1 (max 3)
Male 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) - -
Cattle Angus Female 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) 10 mo 1 (max 3)
Male 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) - -
Cattle Limousin Female 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) 10 mo 1 (max 3)
Male 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) - -
Cattle Hereford Female 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) 10 mo 1 (max 3)
Male 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) - -
Cattle Highland (DLC) Female 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) 10 mo 1 (max 3)
Male 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) - -
Cattle Brahman (DLC) Female 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) 10 mo 1 (max 3)
Male 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) - -
Cattle Water Buffalo³ Female 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) 10 mo 1 (max 3)
Male 12 mo 132 mo (11 yr) - -
Pigs Berkshire Female 6 mo 96 mo (8 yr) 4 mo 12 (max 16)
Male 8 mo 48 mo (4 yr) - -
Pigs Landrace Female 6 mo 96 mo (8 yr) 4 mo 12 (max 16)
Male 8 mo 48 mo (4 yr) - -
Pigs Black Pied Female 6 mo 96 mo (8 yr) 4 mo 12 (max 16)
Male 8 mo 48 mo (4 yr) - -
Sheep Black Welsh Female 8 mo 120 mo (10 yr) 5 mo 2 (max 3)
Male 5 mo 72 mo (6 yr) - -
Sheep Landrace Female 8 mo 120 mo (10 yr) 5 mo 2 (max 3)
Male 5 mo 72 mo (6 yr) - -
Sheep Steinschaf Female 8 mo 120 mo (10 yr) 5 mo 2 (max 3)
Male 5 mo 72 mo (6 yr) - -
Sheep Swiss Mountain Female 8 mo 120 mo (10 yr) 5 mo 2 (max 3)
Male 5 mo 72 mo (6 yr) - -
Goats Goat³ Female (Doe) 8 mo 120 mo (10 yr) 5 mo 2 (max 3)
Male (Ram Goat) 5 mo 72 mo (6 yr) - -
Horses All 8 colour variants Female (Mare) 22 mo 264 mo (22 yr) 11 mo 1 (max 3)
Male (Stallion) 24 mo 300 mo (25 yr) - -
Chickens Chicken Female (Hen) 6 mo 60 mo (5 yr) 2 mo 5 (max 12)
Male (Rooster) 6 mo 72 mo (6 yr) - -
Alpacas All 4 colour variants (Beans & Alpacas Expansion) Female 14 mo 180 mo (15 yr) 11 mo 1 (max 2)
Male 24 mo 120 mo (10 yr) - -

A female can conceive from the month after the age shown.

¹ A pen needs a male under these ages to conceive, so females stop conceiving once every male is past his age. With a younger male in the pen, a high-fertility older male can still father young past his age. A male with poor fertility genetics stops fathering earlier: the female can still conceive while he is in the pen, but the young get no recorded father, average sire genetics and their mother's breed. Roosters are the exception: their 72-month limit is the same for every rooster, whatever his genetics. A female stops outright at her age.

² "Peak" is the typical litter size when a mother conceives. "Max" is the largest litter possible, and the top sizes are very rare. Litter size is mostly chance. Well below average fertility rules out the largest litters (in sheep and goats, low fertility makes triplets a little less likely); above average adds nothing. Alpacas have mostly one young, and twins are down to chance. Age does not change a mother's chance of conceiving - fertility genetics do. That chance holds until her "Breeds until" age, then stops outright. Only sheep, goats, horses, chickens and alpacas with poor fertility genetics slow down in their last stretch.

³ Breed-locked: Water Buffalo only breed with Water Buffalo; Goats only breed with Ram Goats. All other breeds within a species can cross-breed (Angus bull x Holstein cow, Berkshire boar x Landrace sow, etc.). See the Breeding Guide.

Health gate: Every species requires the female to be at 75%+ health to conceive. Below 75%, conception fails entirely. With Animal Death on, a stillborn newborn can cost the mother her life too, but only if she has poor health genetics. See the Breeding Guide for full mechanics.

At a Glance

A few patterns worth highlighting:

  • Pigs have the shortest male window. Boars retire at 4 years while sows breed until 8 - replace breeding boars early.
  • Sheep and goats also asymmetric. Rams retire at 6 years, ewes/does breed until 10.
  • Does and ewes start together. Goats breed from 8 months, the same as sheep.
  • Horses and alpacas are the slowest cycle. 11-month gestation and mostly single young make them a long-term investment.
  • Pigs are the fastest large animal. 4-month gestation, a 3-month recovery after each birth and 12-piglet litters mean a healthy sow manages about 1.7 litters, or 20 piglets, a year.
  • Roosters retire at 6 years. A rooster sires until 72 months, then stops - unlike other males, his limit is the same whatever his genetics.

See Also