Updated 23 October 2026. Facts on this page come from minecraft.wiki, minecraft.net and the live Artemis PvP server; sources are listed at the bottom.
How to Breed Animals in Minecraft: Every Food
To breed two animals, feed each one its breeding food: wheat for cows, sheep, goats and mooshrooms, carrots, potatoes or beetroot for pigs, seeds for chickens, and so on. Both enter love mode, meet, and make a baby that grows up in about 20 minutes. Holding the food also makes animals follow you.
How does breeding work?
Give one breeding item to each of two adults of the same species. Each enters love mode and they walk to each other and make one baby. Any two adults of the same species can breed, even a parent with its own offspring. Animals only breed when a player feeds them, and while you hold their food they follow you, which is the easy way to lead them into a pen. Most babies grow up in 20 minutes (snifflets take 40); feeding a baby its food speeds this up.
What food does each animal need to breed?
| Animal | Breeding food |
|---|---|
| Cow, mooshroom, sheep, goat | Wheat |
| Pig | Carrot, potato or beetroot |
| Chicken | Any seeds (wheat, pumpkin, melon, beetroot, torchflower) or a pitcher pod |
| Horse, donkey (tamed) | Golden apple, enchanted golden apple or golden carrot |
| Wolf (tamed) | Any meat, including rotten flesh |
| Cat (tamed), ocelot | Raw cod or raw salmon |
| Llama or trader llama (tamed) | Hay bale |
| Rabbit | Dandelion, carrot or golden carrot |
| Turtle | Seagrass |
| Panda | Bamboo (with bamboo nearby) |
| Fox | Sweet berries or glow berries |
| Bee | Any flower |
| Axolotl | Bucket of tropical fish |
| Strider | Warped fungus |
| Hoglin | Crimson fungus |
| Frog | Slimeball |
| Camel | Cactus |
| Sniffer | Torchflower seeds |
| Armadillo | Spider eye |
| Nautilus (tamed) | Raw or cooked cod or salmon, pufferfish, tropical fish, or a bucket of any of them |
Which animals breed in a special way?
- Chickens make a chick directly when bred, and also lay eggs on their own.
- Turtles lay eggs on sand that take a few days to hatch; frogs lay frogspawn that hatches into tadpoles after ten minutes; sniffers lay eggs that take twenty minutes (ten on moss).
- Pandas need bamboo nearby to breed (on Bedrock, at least eight bamboo plants within five blocks).
- Horses, donkeys, llamas, wolves and cats must be tamed first; see horses.
- Villagers breed differently, with food and beds; see villager breeding.
How fast can a herd grow?
Breeding turns one pair into a whole herd: if every baby grows up and breeds again, the number of animals rises by about half each generation, following a sequence minecraft.wiki works out. See crop farming for growing the food.
Are there custom animals on ArtemisPvP?
Frequently asked questions
What do you feed cows to breed them?
Wheat.
How long do baby animals take to grow up?
Most take 20 minutes; feeding them their breeding food speeds it up.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against these pages; the wording is ours.