Among the biggest and most notable additions to the Stardew Valley 1.6 Update is the new starting farm, Meadowlands Farm. Apart from incentivizing players to start anew and raise a different farmstead, it also offers a different playstyle. It’s a unique, new scene compared to the usual crop harvesting, bee-keeping, or fishing, whichever bites. Here’s how the Meadowlands Farm differs in Stardew Valley.
The Stardew Valley Farm Focuses on Livestock
If your countryside dreams revolve around being a cowboy (no pun intended) or rancher more than being a farmer, you’ll find that the Meadowlands Farm is worth it more so than the other farms. The Meadowlands Farm is Stardew Valley‘s gift to players who want to take stock in livestock.
To help you with that, the Meadowlands Farm gives you the following items at the start of the game:
- 15x Hay
- 1x Small Coop
- 2x Chickens
That should set you up for more chickens, though you can always specialize in other farm animals later on. In addition, the whole Meadowland Farm area comes with its unique chewy Blue Grass or just blue grass as a more optimal feed for your farm animals. It’s twice as effective as regular grass.
Is it Better than Crop Farms?
That depends on the playstyle you want and how you intend to make money in Stardew Valley. There are pros and cons to the livestock or animal playstyle in Stardew Valley.
- Initially, livestock or animal farms can be more profitable, but later on, when you can start making artisanal goods, the crop farms can pull ahead.
- Animal farms take more labor and effort to maintain, unlike crop farms where you just need sprinklers later on to minimize farming effort.
- Animal farms, however, don’t rely too much on seasonal harvests, and that’s something you might want to consider.
- If you want to maximize your Meadowlands Farm livestock operation, Pigs and Truffles make good returns. Apart from that, Dinosaurs are also profitable.
- You can still plant crops in your Meadowlands Farm if you want, as there’s plenty of space for that, though it’s more limited.
So in summary, we recommend picking the Meadowlands Farm if you prefer an Animal Crossing type of playstyle. Farm animals make better company compared to scarecrows and sprinklers, mind you.
However, it’s one of the new additions to Stardew Valley 1.6. You ought to try out the Meadowlands Farm at least once if you’re out of stuff to do in the game or want to experience the game fresh, especially with the bulk of the new content. Who would say ‘no’ to more Stardew Valley?
