In Minecraft you can find all sorts of animals and bring them home. Once you have, you can also breed them to expand your farm. This mechanic has received many updates over the years. While you once needed wheat for almost everything, breeding is now far more varied. You need the right food or item for each animal to breed it. With the first drop of 2026 approaching and baby mobs getting a visual refresh, it’s a good time to look at every creature and how to breed it. You’ll also need all animals to earn an achievement.
Breed Minecraft farm animals: Efficient resource farming
A farm isn’t complete without animals. You should definitely capture these species and make use of their resources. Of course, you can breed them so you only need to find two specimens of each to start. These animals are essential for any playthrough.
- Cows: Breed with wheat. Needed for leather, raw beef and steak, and milk.
- Goats: Also breedable with wheat. Provide milk and occasionally goat horns when they ram hard blocks.
- Sheep: Eat wheat. Besides mutton, mainly important for wool. Wool colour is mixed or inherited from a parent. Red and yellow make orange, for example.
- Pigs: Breed with carrots, potatoes or beetroot. They provide pork.
- Chickens: Need any kind of seeds. Important for feathers and chicken.
- Bees: Breed with flowers and produce honey and honeycomb.
Tame and breed pets in Minecraft: Cats, wolves, axolotls
Pets make the game more fun and are reliable companions. Many players love cats or wolves, but rabbits and axolotls are popular too.
- Wolves: First tame with bones, then breed with raw or cooked meat. Rotten flesh also works. They come in many colours, with distinct personalities, some of which can pass to the pup.
- Cats: Tame with raw salmon or cod, then breed with raw fish as well. Cats can bring you gifts and will randomly inherit a parent’s colour.
- Rabbits: Not tameable, but they’ll trust you if you hold dandelions or carrots. Breed with carrots, dandelions or golden carrots. Drops: rabbit’s foot, rabbit hide and rabbit.
- Axolotls: Live in lush caves. Breed with a bucket of tropical fish. There’s a small chance (0.083%) of a very rare blue axolotl; otherwise the colour of a parent is inherited.
Tame and breed mounts in Minecraft: Horses, donkeys, camels
Mounts are handy when you want to move quickly through the world. From horses to camels, there’s plenty of choice. Some can also be cross-bred, for example a horse and a donkey to make a mule.
- Horses: Tame by mounting repeatedly. Breed only with golden carrots or golden apples. Selectively breed for high jump strength and speed.
- Donkeys: Tame like horses, breed with golden carrots or golden apples. Donkeys can carry a chest for extra inventory space.
- Llamas: Tame, then breed with a hay bale. Works with the wandering trader’s llamas too. They also have inventory slots.
- Striders: Found in the Nether. Carry you across lava lakes. Breed with warped fungus.
- Nautilus: There is no rideable nautilus in vanilla. If you play with mods, check the mod description. Some modpacks use pufferfish or other items for breeding.
- Camels: You don’t need to tame them; simply breed with cacti.
Breed more Minecraft animals: Ocelot, turtle, panda, frog, fox, hoglin, sniffer, armadillo
You’ll encounter many more creatures on your travels. Some can’t be tamed, but are still important for certain farms and resources.
- Ocelot: Since the split from cats, ocelots are not breedable. You can only gain their trust with raw fish. They’re less useful compared to cats.
- Turtle: Breed with seagrass. They lay eggs that hatch over time. Baby turtles drop scutes, which you use to craft the Turtle Shell helmet. Learn more in the farm guide: (Minecraft: Build an Automatic Turtle Farm – Scutes for Helmets and Potions) .
- Pandas: Need bamboo as food and in the surroundings. They have different genes that are passed on to offspring.
- Frogs: Breed with slimeballs. They produce tadpoles, which grow into different frog colours depending on the biome.
- Foxes: Eat sweet berries or glow berries. The baby fox trusts the player.
- Hoglin: Breedable in the Nether with crimson fungus. Be careful, they’re aggressive.
- Sniffer: Digs up unique flower seeds. Breed with torchflower seeds. It lays eggs that hatch in about 20 minutes.
- Armadillo: Found in savannas and deserts. Eat spider eyes. They drop armadillo scutes for wolf armour.
Conclusion on Minecraft breeding: Resources, companions and rare variants
Animal breeding is an important part of Minecraft. It lets you gain renewable resources and expand your livestock. Whether farm animals, travelling companions, or rare creatures in other dimensions, the fauna is diverse. The breeding methods are just as varied. Some mobs have special mechanics, like frogs with tadpoles or the very rare blue axolotl.
To make it easier to find and breed every animal, rent one of our Minecraft servers and search for your favourite creatures. You’ll also be ready for the upcoming drop in early 2026, which brings new versions of baby mobs.
