Every vanilla animal in your barnyard gets a serious upgrade here. Horses, cows, sheep, pigs, llamas, rabbits, bees, goats, camels, cod, salmon, and even undead horses swap their blocky vanilla look for sharper models and biome-based variants, and the mod converts your existing creatures automatically instead of forcing you to respawn them.

New Breeds, Genders, and Genetics

The overhaul layers a real breeding system on top of vanilla husbandry. Animals spawn with random colors and patterns tied to their biome, and you can breed them for specific traits over multiple generations. Genders are configurable and affect both breeding and byproduct output, so a herd stops feeling like a row of identical clones.

Covered animals include horses, donkeys, mules, cows and oxen, mooshrooms, pigs, sheep, rabbits, llamas, cod, salmon, bees, goats, camels, frogs, undead horses, caribou, uncommon mooblooms, and rare unicorns. Vanilla mechanics still work underneath, which keeps the mod survival-friendly rather than a gimmick pack.

Meat, Dairy, and Fish Drops

Slaughtering livestock now yields proper cuts of meat instead of a single generic item, and new animal breeds change how much loot each kill produces. Cows, sheep, and llamas can be milked into cheese varieties, fish give oil and roe, and the roe can be hatched into fry for cod or salmon farms. It turns hunting and farming into something worth planning around.

Horse Gear, Mounts, and Wagons

The equine side of the mod is surprisingly deep. Donkeys, mules, and camels can wear armor, horses get a chest for storage, and Netherite Horse Armor lets you turn a fast horse into a genuine warhorse. Saddled mounts can ground-tie in place, perform emotes like Bow and Piaffe, and wear carpet blankets. Larger animals can even pull wagons.

How to Install DragN's Livestock Overhaul!

This is a Forge-only project, so start by setting up Minecraft Forge for your game, then drop the mod jar into your mods folder. If you have never installed a Forge mod before, the general install guide walks through the folder locations and profile steps. Because the animals use animated models, keep GeckoLib installed as the animation library the mod relies on.

A few config notes worth knowing before launch. The mod ships livestock-overhaul-common.toml and livestock-overhaul-client.toml files, so you can dial genders, conversions, and performance settings up or down. If animals t-pose or their animations glitch, turn off Entity Shadows in your video options and shader settings. On weak hardware, enable Performance Models in the client config to recover FPS. For a server that should not auto-convert existing animals, drop the common config into the server config folder before you start it.

DragN's Livestock Overhaul! FAQ

Does it replace my existing animals or spawn new ones?

It converts vanilla animals in place and gives them biome-based variants. The overhauled creatures are separate entities, so vanilla mechanics like breeding and mob spawning still function underneath.

Can I turn off the gender and genetics systems?

Yes. Both are configurable through the common config file, and you can also disable automatic conversions on a server by adding the config before first launch.

Is it survival-friendly or does it unbalance the world?

It is built for normal survival play. New drops and breeds add depth without handing you overpowered gear, and the extra food items fit roughly where vanilla farming already sits.

Do I need any other mods for it to work?

You need Forge and the GeckoLib animation library. A resource pack addon template exists if you want to add custom equine accessories or textures.

Will it lag my world?

It can be heavy on weaker machines because of the detailed models. Enable Performance Models in the client config and disable Entity Shadows if you notice frame drops or animation glitches.