Wow #1 · Wait after breeding
5 min
Parents cannot enter love mode again for five minutes.
Wow #2 · Food per baby
2 items
One breeding item fed to each parent.
The public breeding cooldown and food rules that cap how fast a pen can grow.
You cannot spam babies back-to-back on the same pair. More pairs grow the farm faster than re-feeding one pair sooner.
1. The love-mode clock
| Rule | Wiki number |
|---|---|
| Items per baby | 2 (one per parent) |
| Pathfind range while in love | up to 8 blocks |
| Love mode without a pair | ~30 seconds, then can be fed again |
| After a successful breed | 5-minute cooldown before next love mode |
Babies per hour (ideal pairs, no walking waste)
Illustration / ideal math — about 12 babies per hour if you re-feed the instant the 5-minute wait ends. Not a measured farm.
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| 1 pair | 12 |
| 2 pairs | 24 |
| 4 pairs | 48 |
2. Common breeding foods
| Mob | Breeding food (wiki) |
|---|---|
| Cow / sheep / goat / mooshroom | Wheat |
| Pig | Carrot, potato, or beetroot |
| Chicken | Seeds (wheat, pumpkin, melon, beetroot, …) |
| Horse / donkey (tamed) | Golden carrot / golden apple / enchanted golden apple |
| Cat (tamed) / ocelot | Raw cod or raw salmon |
Source: Minecraft Wiki. Breeding · Breeding foods table (pull 2026-08-12). Horses must be tamed before breeding; mules do not breed further.
3. What it costs in food
A starter cow pen that finishes a breed every five minutes uses 24 wheat/hour for that one pair (2 wheat × 12 cycles). Add more pairs to grow faster. The wait is per animal, not per whole farm.
Two food items per baby. Then a five-minute wait on those parents. Ideal math tops out near 12 babies per pair per real hour if you re-feed on time.
Wiki rules can change by version. Pin the cooldown and food list to your edition. Ideal babies-per-hour ignores walking waste and crowded pens.
Sources
- Minecraft Wiki. Breeding.
- Tame / breed / feed FAQ.
- Day length. real minutes vs game days.
Quick answers
How I calculated it
Parsed Minecraft Wiki Breeding page: love-mode rules, 5-minute post-breed cooldown, 30-second unpaired expiry, and the breeding-foods table. What I added: babies-per-hour throughput chart (60÷5 illustrative cycles per pair) and the “ideal math vs crowded pens” honesty note.
