Starsand Island Ranching Guide: Animals, Traits, and Breeding
Running a farm is hard enough without your prize-winning pigs inheriting a genetic disposition for depression.
I don't know who decided that hoarding farm animals is a relaxing hobby. You move to an island to escape the daily grind, and suddenly you are shoveling rabbit crap and worrying about the emotional state of a duck. But if you want a reliable source of income and some free labor, ranching is mandatory. I spent an ungodly amount of time figuring out the genetics and breeding mechanics in this game so you don't end up with a barn full of useless, tiny animals.
Here is everything you need to know about building your agricultural empire and forcing your livestock to mutate.
Unlocking the Meat Farm
Before you can start playing God with genetics, you need the actual animals.
Head northwest from your farm until you hit the Green Pasture Ranch. Talk to Pastelle. She hands over the basics of ranching, letting you buy common rabbits and construct your first enclosures. You cannot just drop a cow in your living room. Every single species requires a specific hutch or barn placed on your lot. Once the building is down, you buy the animal, chuck it inside, and start the endless cycle of feeding and brushing them to keep them happy.
The Livestock Roster
Different animals serve entirely different purposes.
Some are strictly there to be milked or sheared for profit. Others actually help automate your daily chores. Rabbits eat weeds, chickens act as pest control by eating bugs, and ducks annihilate the snails ruining your crops. Once you hit the Senior and Expert ranks, you finally unlock mounts so you don't have to walk everywhere like a peasant.
Animal Traits and DNA
This game features a surprisingly brutal genetic system.
Every animal you buy or breed rolls random DNA traits. Some of these are fantastic and will make your farm highly efficient. Others will make you want to immediately sell the creature for spare change. Check the barn menu to see exactly what traits your animals are hiding. If they have bad genes, get rid of them before they pollute your breeding pool.
Breeding and Mutations
Breeding is basically rolling the dice and hoping for a mutant.
First, let me clear up a massive misconception. Egg production has absolutely nothing to do with breeding. A chicken can lay eggs all week and still pop out a chick overnight. To breed, you just need a male and female of the exact same species living in the same enclosure with at least one empty slot. If they are clean and fed, a baby will magically appear the next day. You are capped at one breeding event per day, per enclosure.
The Breeding House
Leaving your animals in a crowded barn to randomly mate is a terrible strategy. Once you hit the Intermediate Rancher rank, buy the Breeding House blueprint from Green Pasture Ranch for 3,500 coins. This massive building lets you isolate specific pairs to guarantee you are passing down the right genes and aiming for rare color variants.
Rare Animal Variants
You are not stuck with boring brown animals forever. By isolating specific pairs, you can force mutations and unlock entirely new breeds. I highly recommend selling the default colored babies to fund your endless quest for the glowing ones.
