Rancher or Farmer?

[Dinosaur]

So I'm still in the late Spring of my first year. However, I've heard about the choice between farmer, or rancher before I even reached that part yet. I'm not entirely sure which one is the more viable choice. I'd much rather choose animal husbandry because I'm a cliche animal lover, but if it'll hurt the profit, I'll focus more on crops.

Any ideas?

[YuMu214]

I mean you can choose rancher if you see yourself having a majoirty of your end-game profit be from animal products. I don't think you get the bonus for selling the animals just their products. If you're going to dedicate most of your land to crops then farmer is the obvious choice. But honestly it's only 10% it won't break the game for you if you choose one and decide you want to switch focus later. I picked farmer because I'll be mostly selling animals later on and I don't think they cover that with the perk.

[Kashra Fall]

You aren't and you shouldn't focus on one means of money making. So, you can be a rancher and a farmer, but one will simply be more profitable. Like me. I do crops+animals and fishing. Fishing brings in about 3-5k a day and crops brings in about 9-15k every 5-13 days. It's a profitable existence, but people tend to hate fishing and I don't know why.

[Sticks]

You can build more than one barn/coop so if you plan to go all out and build multiple barns or something like that then rancher is probably worth it.
If you just plan on having one of each though then farmer would be better since you'd be utilizing all the extra land for farming and not animal buildings.

[SlicedAndDiced]

Well Taking Care of animals is really a pain until since they are soo hard to milk cows and goats if you want to let them out, since the milking process is a bit clunky and they move around too much. If your going to go rancher Going with chickens and ducks ands rabit might be easier. since all you have to do is touch them and fed them every day.

For Farming The Hard part is the set up early game, once you get sprinklers your good tho. once you have them all you have to worry about is the crop set up every begining of the season. them your free to do what you want till harvest time.

They are both viable.

[YuMu214]

Originally posted by Kashra Fall:

You aren't and you shouldn't focus on one means of money making. So, you can be a rancher and a farmer, but one will simply be more profitable. Like me. I do crops+animals and fishing. Fishing brings in about 3-5k a day and crops brings in about 9-15k every 5-13 days. It's a profitable existence, but people tend to hate fishing and I don't know why.

I don't think you should say discourage a play style, once my first play through is through I was thinking of doing a "themed" run-through focusing on 1, max 2 areas and doing my best not to touch the rest. I'd like to see what an actual ranch would look like. all coops/barns/silos/grass. I'm assuming you'd reach a happy point with cash flow, especially since freakin bunnies sell for 10k max

[Hextravert]

If you love animals, you owe it to yourself to become a Rancher.

Both of them are profitable.

Being a Rancher simply means you'll get a 10% bonus for doing what you prefer.

Originally posted by Len:

So I'm still in the late Spring of my first year. However, I've heard about the choice between farmer, or rancher before I even reached that part yet. I'm not entirely sure which one is the more viable choice. I'd much rather choose animal husbandry because I'm a cliche animal lover, but if it'll hurt the profit, I'll focus more on crops.

Any ideas?

[404_Not_Found]

Farmer is probably more profitable honestly, but that's just me - I do both things, but I raise every kind of crop for cooking purposes and usually only have enough animal homes to raise at least 1-2 of every kind of animal.

[Yoshimtu]

As Jimmy Rustles said, farming makes more money than anything by far currently if you plant good crops. And with sprinklers, takes a lot less work than anything else. If you're going for profit and nothing more, farming.

Otherwise go with what you find the most fun.

[iNol]

I chose farmer, seems easier and quicker profit.

Animal seems expensive and lots of maintenance, i heard ppl complaining that grass is too slow to grow and animals eat it so quick. More money and more work doesn't really spell profit for me. The coop (which the quest tell me to build) is 4000 gold, buying chickens I dunno the cost, seems gonna be forever before I get to break even selling eggs.

Farming with sprinklers, now that sounds like solid profit for me. The removal of watering workload is simply priceless. I may get some animals just for fun later. For now I focus on sprinkler farming first. I have moved to full sprinklers this fall (year 1), with 6 quality and 6 regular sprinklers. No need watering, crops keep growing. This is the life brother. This is the life ^^

Bee hives also good, I have 3 now, I plan to add another 3 asap.

[NotThatHarkness]

I would go farmer. The 10% isn't huge, but combined with low cost and high value crops you can probably do less farming and more concentrating on the animal side.

There's been some debate on whether only animal products get the 10% or whether artisanal products derived from animal products also get the 10%. I'm unclear which it is. If you are going to sell animal products direct for most of your income, then go with that. If you are going to refine them mostly to other products, you might want to do some more research.

[Shmider]

Iwhy not both. I keep animals around for steady income, but nothing beats the chunk of money you get when your crops grow. Make sure you use fertilizer to make them more valuable. Plus the sprinkler makes farming a cinch.

[Dinosaur]

Thanks for the replies!

I'll definitely glance at these responses when the time comes with a more thorough inspection, but I'm still going to pursue both crops and animals when the time presents itself. I guess I meant which one will hog up most of the space on my farm!

Originally posted by YuSmites:

I'd like to see what an actual ranch would look like. all coops/barns/silos/grass. I'm assuming you'd reach a happy point with cash flow, especially since freakin bunnies sell for 10k max

That'd be interesting! I'd have to try a stricter "themed" one sometime. For now, I just need to steadily make my way through the main story.

[The Space Ferret]

I love animals but in HM I've always preferred farming over ranching, and it's the same with this game. I love seeing all those crops in my fields, ready to be harvested :D

[Ansalem1]

Farmer by an insane amount. Animals are pretty crap, crops are incredible.

[Hextravert]

I've changed my mind: You should pick Tiller first and become an Artisan at level 10.

Artisans receive a 50% bonus for their goods; e.g., mayonnaise and cheese (eggs and milk).

Unlike the Rancher route — this combination will give you the best of both worlds.

Originally posted by Len:

Thanks for the replies!

I'll definitely glance at these responses when the time comes with a more thorough inspection, but I'm still going to pursue both crops and animals when the time presents itself. I guess I meant which one will hog up most of the space on my farm! :doge:

Originally posted by YuSmites:

I'd like to see what an actual ranch would look like. all coops/barns/silos/grass. I'm assuming you'd reach a happy point with cash flow, especially since freakin bunnies sell for 10k max

That'd be interesting! I'd have to try a stricter "themed" one sometime. For now, I just need to steadily make my way through the main story.