Stardew Valley Pig and Truffle Profit Guide (2026): Best Animal for Gold Per Day

1) Pig Basics and Costs

Pigs are the crown jewel of barn animals. They are not the easiest or cheapest to obtain, but no other animal comes close to their daily gold output once they are operational. Here is everything you need to know before buying your first pig.

Purchase price and requirements

• Cost: 16,000g per pig from Marnie's Ranch.
• Building required: Deluxe Barn (costs 12,000g and 150 hardwood to upgrade from Big Barn, which itself costs 10,000g and 300 wood from a standard Barn).
• Capacity: Deluxe Barn holds up to 12 animals of any barn type.
• Maturity: Pigs take 10 in-game days to grow from baby to adult before they can produce truffles.

How truffles work

Each adult pig that goes outside on a non-rainy, non-winter day has a chance to dig up a truffle. A pig with maximum happiness (full hearts) finds exactly one truffle per outing. Truffles appear on the ground outside the barn and must be collected manually — they do not go into a chest automatically. Raw truffles sell for 625g at base quality. Unlike most animal products, truffle quality is fixed and does not scale with profession.

Total startup cost estimate

To run 4 pigs in a Deluxe Barn, you need roughly 100,000g in total investment: barn construction chain (~32,000g in materials and gold), pig purchases (64,000g), and Oil Makers for processing (each costs 1 Gold Bar + 1 Copper Bar + 25 Hardwood). That infrastructure cost is why Year 2 is the standard recommendation.

2) Truffle Oil Processing

Raw truffles are valuable on their own, but converting them into Truffle Oil with an Oil Maker is the core of the pig profit strategy — especially once you unlock the Artisan profession.

Oil Maker basics

• Recipe unlock: Farming level 8.
• Materials: 1 Gold Bar, 1 Copper Bar, 25 Hardwood.
• Processing time: 6 in-game hours per truffle.
• Output: 1 Truffle → 1 Bottle of Truffle Oil.

Truffle Oil sale prices

• Base price: 1,065g per bottle.
• With Artisan profession: 1,491g per bottle (+40%).
• Raw truffle for comparison: 625g.

How many Oil Makers do you need?

Each Oil Maker processes one truffle every 6 hours, so it can handle up to 4 truffles per day if loaded back-to-back from 6:00 AM. For 10 pigs producing 10 truffles daily, you need at least 3 Oil Makers running in parallel to avoid a backlog. A practical setup for 10 pigs is 4 Oil Makers: load them first thing in the morning, collect finished oil in the evening, and reload before bed.

3) Profit Calculation Tables

The numbers below assume one truffle per pig per sunny non-winter day, Artisan Oil where indicated, and a standard 7-day week. Real output varies with weather — budget for roughly 4–5 truffle days per in-game week during the active seasons.

4) Animal Comparison

How do pigs stack up against every other barn and coop animal? The table below uses best-case Artisan daily values for a fair comparison. For a deeper look at all animal returns, see the Animal Profit Guide.

The key takeaway: pigs produce 2–4x more gold per animal per day than any other option, but only on sunny non-winter days. Chickens and cows win on consistency — they produce every single day regardless of weather. A balanced farm often runs chickens or cows for reliable daily income and pigs as the high-output premium layer.

5) Pig Happiness Management

A pig at full happiness (5 hearts) will reliably find one truffle per outdoor day. A pig at low happiness may not find any truffle at all. Happiness management is therefore directly tied to your daily profit ceiling.

Daily care checklist

• Pet every pig daily. Each pet interaction adds one friendship point. Skipping a day causes a small friendship decay.
• Leave the barn door open on sunny days so pigs can go outside automatically. Pigs that stay inside all day do not find truffles.
• Ensure hay is always available. An empty food trough causes happiness to drop overnight. Auto-feed via a silo connected to the barn prevents this completely.

Weather and seasonal constraints

• Rainy days: Pigs stay inside. No truffles. Happiness does not drop from weather alone, but you lose a production day.
• Winter: Pigs cannot go outside at all for the entire season. Zero truffle production from Day 1 to Day 28 of Winter.

Winter heater strategy

Place a Heater in your Deluxe Barn before Winter starts. The heater prevents happiness from declining during cold months when pigs cannot go outside. Without it, happiness slowly erodes over Winter, and you will spend the first weeks of Spring rebuilding friendship before you see reliable truffle output again. One heater covers the entire barn regardless of animal count.

6) Auto-Petter Value Analysis

The Auto-Petter is a rare item obtained from Skull Cavern treasure rooms or the Qi Gem shop (50 Qi Gems). Placed inside a barn, it automatically pets every animal once per day without any player input.

What it does and does not do

• Does: Provides 1 automatic friendship point per animal per day, preventing friendship decay on days you skip manual petting.
• Does not: Replace manual petting entirely for friendship gain. Manual petting still gives a slightly higher friendship increment, so full 5-heart status is reached faster with hands-on care.
• Combined effect: Auto-Petter + manual petting on the same day gives maximum daily friendship gain.

Is it worth the cost?

For a barn of 10 pigs generating 14,910g per day in Artisan Truffle Oil, even a single missed pet session that drops a pig's mood costs you 1,491g in lost output. The Auto-Petter pays for itself in insurance value within a few weeks. If you are running a large pig operation and your daily routine is tight, the Auto-Petter is one of the best quality-of-life purchases in the game. The primary cost — 50 Qi Gems — requires reaching Perfection milestones, so it is a late-game convenience, not an early solution.

7) When to Buy Pigs

Pigs are not a Year 1 investment for most players. The math is straightforward: you need roughly 100,000g in liquid capital to build a Deluxe Barn and buy 4 pigs with Oil Makers. Reaching that threshold while also funding crops, tool upgrades, and mine progression is genuinely difficult before Year 2.

Recommended Year 2 timeline

• Winter Year 1: Begin upgrading your standard Barn to Big Barn, then to Deluxe Barn. Each upgrade takes 3 in-game days.
• Spring Year 2, Day 1: Purchase 2–4 pigs immediately. They will mature by around Day 11 and start producing truffles before Spring ends.
• Summer Year 2: Add more pigs as cash flow allows. By now your Oil Makers should be running and Artisan profession secured.

Capital threshold checklist

• Deluxe Barn fully built ✓
• Farming level 10 with Artisan profession ✓
• At least 3 Oil Makers crafted ✓
• Silo and auto-feed system in place ✓
• 16,000g per pig available without gutting crop budget ✓

8) FAQ

Start Calculating Your Pig Profits

Ready to build your pig empire? Use the calculator to model exactly how much your herd will earn based on size, season, and profession. Compare pig income against crops and other animals to find your optimal Year 2 strategy.