SoS: FoMT Fruit Cow Guide (How To Get + Uses)

by Kal S.

Fruit cows are a type of specialty cow in Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town.

They look just like the regular cows you can get in the game, but they have a unique yellow/orange color.

They also produce fruit milk which you can harvest and sell on your farm, and this fruit milk is worth a bit more than regular milk.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

How To Get a Fruit Cow
- 1. Purchasing from Yodel Ranch
- 2. Breeding
Taking Care of a Fruit Cow
Fruit Cow Milk
What To Do With Fruit Milk
Are Fruit Cows Worth It?

The character description of a fruit cow, accessed from the Animal Relationships menu

How To Get a Fruit Cow

There are actually two methods to get a fruit cow: buying one or breeding.

Like other cows, fruit cows are also available at Yodel Ranch. You can buy them from Mugi here, or choose to breed one by yourself on the farm.

There are different prerequisites & benefits for both methods though, so choose whatever method works best for you.

1. Purchasing from Yodel Ranch

The only way you can get your first fruit cow is by buying it at the ranch.

You’ve probably met the owner before, Mugi.

Dialogue from Mugi, the owner of Yodel Ranch, when the farmer enters.

He’s the one who gives you the pet horse, and he sells all the other barn animals as well. You can also get animal supplies and fodder from him.

Yodel Ranch is located to the lower right portion of Mineral Town, easily accessible from any of the paths.

Mugi is available at the shop from 10 AM to 3 PM, except for Mondays.

Map of Mineral Town with Yodel Ranch highlighted in red.

Aside from the money needed to buy your fruit cow, you don’t need to accomplish anything else in the game. You can just buy all the cows from the get-go!

Take note that you’ll need the following before you can buy the cow:

10,000 G
Available space for a new animal in the barn

The shop menu at Yodel Ranch with the fruit cow selected, priced at 10,000 G.

And once you’ve bought your fruit cow, you’ll need these things to take care of it properly:

Fodder
Brush (800 G)
Milker (3,000 G)

The cost of these items and where to get them will be discussed later on in the guide, when it’s time to finally raise your fruit cow. Keep these in mind though when buying the cow, because you’ll need some extra money to afford the items!

Aside from that, you don’t really need anything else.

Just time, patience, and a lot of love for your new fruit cow.

The farmer talks to a new fruit calf for the first time.

2. Breeding

Mugi sells Cow Breeding Kits at Yodel Ranch for only 3,000 G.

This is much cheaper compared to buying a new calf entirely.

And breeding new cows also comes with a bunch of benefits you wouldn’t be able to get otherwise, like higher possible milk sizes.

Note: You do need to have a fruit cow already before you can breed more, so you’ll still need to buy one from Mugi first.

The shop menu at Yodel Ranch with the Cow Breeding Kit selected, priced at 3,000 G.

To use the Cow Breeding Kit, simply equip it as a tool and select a mature fruit cow.

Remember that you should only use it on the same type of cow that you want to breed. Fruit cows will only give birth to fruit calves, regular cows will only give birth to regular calves, and so on.

The following conditions should be met for the breeding to be successful:

There is available space in the barn for another animal
The fruit cow you’re breeding is already mature (producing milk)

The main benefit of breeding your own cows is that you can increase their friendship level. Cows born on your farm are more inclined to like you!

Interface of the animal relationship tab where you can check your cow’s friendship level.

Cows that are bought from Yodel Ranch, like in the image above, can only reach a maximum of 5 hearts.

This heart level determines the quality of the milk you can get from your cow, so it’s important to capitalize on this.

For each generation of animal bred on your farm, the maximum heart level of the calf increases by one. You can actually continue the cycle of breeding until you get cows that max out at 10 hearts.

Taking Care of a Fruit Cow

Once you bring your fruit cow home from Mugi’s ranch, they won’t be ready to give you milk yet. You still have to raise them for several days.

If you don’t raise them properly then they won’t be able to give you milk or other animal products.

But if you mostly leave your fruit calf alone, it will mature into a fully grown cow after 14 days.

That said, you can also choose to feed them every day and give them attention to speed up the process. If you do this consistently, your fruit cow can mature in as early as 9 days.

The farmer removes fodder from the barn silo, which acts as storage for the cows’ food.

Naturally, the first thing you need to do is to feed your cows.

Your fruit cow will eat fodder, which you can harvest from the grass growing on your farm. Simply equip your sickle in the tools menu and interact with the grass.

The farmer harvests fodder from grass with a golden sickle.

If you run out of grass, you can buy some fodder from Mugi at 20 G each. Jeff also offers grass seeds at the General Store for 500 G if you’d prefer to grow your own.

And here are some other things you can do daily to increase your friendship points with your fruit cow:

1. Talking to them

The farmer talks to the fruit calf.

Talking to your fruit cow every day is actually a pretty effective way to earn their affection.

While you’re feeding your cows, take the time to interact with each one and listen to them moo back!

2. Brushing them

The farmer holds up a brush while standing next to the fruit cow.

Brushing your fruit cow every day is important to keep them looking shiny and healthy. Equip your brush tool and get to work.

The brush can be bought from Saibara at the Forge for 800 G.

Head over to his shop to the north of your farm to pick one up.

3. Hand feeding

The farmer hand feeds a fruit cow with fodder from the silo.

You can feed your cow in multiple ways, but hand feeding is the best for boosting friendship.

It’s much more personal than letting your cow graze outside or just dropping some fodder in the troughs.

Let your fruit cow know you appreciate them by taking the time to manually feed them.

4. Letting them outside

The farmer stands outside the barn with three specialty cows wandering around the farm.

If you have some spare grass growing on your farm, take your fruit cow outside. Ring the bell located at the left side of the barn door.

Tip: Only ring the bell if it’s sunny outside. Your cows might get grumpy when it’s raining or snowing.

The cows will make their way out of the barn and lounge around the farm while you work. Don’t worry about putting them back in, though! At 8 PM, the bell automatically rings again to let them know it’s time to go back inside for sleep.

Fruit Cow Milk

After 9-14 days, you’ll finally have a mature fruit cow.

Then you can harvest their milk.

Sadly, fruit milk can’t be processed into cheese like regular milk from the normal cow. But you can still sell or gift it to someone, so that’s something.

First you’ll need a milker, which you can buy once again from Saibara at the Forge. It costs 3,000 G. Equip it and interact with your cow to milk them.

The farmer equips the milker in preparation for harvesting fruit milk.

The quality of the fruit milk is dependent on the cow’s heart level.

This is why taking care of your cow is important, because higher friendship means a higher selling price.

You can also unlock better prices by completing certain in-game events, like the Moo Moo Festival.

The farmer holds a jug of (S) fruit milk

Fruit Milk Selling Guide
Size/Quality	Heart Level/Requirements	Selling Price
S	0-3 hearts	120 G
M	4-7 hearts	240 G
L	8-10 hearts	400 G
G	8-10 hearts + Winning the Moo Moo Festival	550 G
P	8-10 hearts + Winning the Moo Moo Festival + 1,000 hours outside	660 G
X	8-10 hearts 1 in 255 chance for every P milk produced	900 G

The prices listed above are for the Normal game mode. If you’ve chosen to play in Simple mode, they’ll sell for a bit more gold.

What To Do With Fruit Milk

Aside from selling your fruit milk, you can also share them with others in Mineral Town.

Use this guide to find out who you should gift your fruit milk to. You can also gift some on a villager’s birthday to get a friendship point boost.

SCROLL

Fruit Milk Gifting Guide
Gift Reaction	Love Points	Friendship Points	Villager
Loved	+500	+9	Anna, Carter, Dudley, Ellen, Elli, Lillia, Manna
Liked	+300	+3	Brandon, Cliff, Doctor, Gotts, Harvest Goddess, Jeff, Jennifer, Kai, Mei, Mugi, Popuri, Ran, Saibara, Thomas, Yu

Note: You can also use fruit milk as a substitute in any recipes that require milk. There are none that specifically need fruit milk, though.

Are Fruit Cows Worth It?

Fruit cows are basically on the same level as the other specialty cows, since they cost the same and produce the same byproducts.

Like strawberry and coffee cows, fruit cows are twice as expensive as regular cows. The milk they produce also can’t be processed into other dairy products.

So considering these drawbacks, are fruit cows worth it?

If you’re trying to get rich fast in Mineral Town, then no. They’re not worth it.

Fruit cows pretty much won’t give you anything aside from slightly more profitable milk. That is, if you remember to feed them every day and keep them happy.

For the exact same effort you would spend on a regular cow, you get half the potential byproduct (no cheese). So fruit cows aren’t really worth the time, unless you’re building a specialty milk empire.

In their defense, though, just look at them: