Animal Taming Guide
From wild capture to full domestication — everything you need to build a thriving livestock operation in Going Medieval.
Taming Progression: Wild → Tamed → Domesticated
Animals in Going Medieval progress through three stages. Wild animals roam the map and must be captured or lured. Assign a settler with the Animal Handling job enabled to attempt taming. Once tamed, the animal becomes Tamed — it stays near your base and can be assigned to a pen. Further training advances it to Domesticated status, which unlocks breeding, milking, shearing, and other production abilities.
Each training attempt consumes time and has a success chance based on the settler's Animal Handling skill. At skill level 1-5, expect 30-40% success rate per attempt. At level 20+, success rate rises to 70-80%. Higher-tier animals (bears, boars) require higher skill minimums to even attempt taming.
All Tamable Animals
| Animal | Min Skill | Products | Feed Type | Space/Tile | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 3 | Eggs, meat | Grains, seeds | 2 | Early food stability |
| Goat | 5 | Milk, meat, leather | Hay, grass | 3 | Milk + meat combo |
| Sheep | 5 | Wool, meat | Hay, grass | 3 | Clothing production |
| Pig | 7 | Meat, leather | Food scraps, grains | 4 | High meat yield |
| Cow | 10 | Milk, meat, heavy leather | Hay, grass | 6 | Best milk producer |
| Donkey | 12 | Hauling, caravan | Hay, grass | 5 | Trade caravans |
| Boar | 15 | Meat, leather | Food scraps, forage | 4 | Self-feeding livestock |
Early Game Priority: Chickens First
Chickens are the most impactful first tame. They require only Animal Handling 3 — achievable by any settler within a few days of focused training. A single chicken produces 1 egg every 1-2 days. At 3 chickens, that is roughly 2 eggs per day, providing a steady food source that requires no cooking, no preservation, and no crops. Eggs also count as a meat substitute in meal recipes.
Your second priority should be goats or cows for milk. Milk converts to cheese at a preservation station, and cheese lasts far longer than raw food. A single cow produces enough milk daily to make 2-3 cheese portions — enough to feed one settler indefinitely from milk alone.
Pen Design & Management
Each animal needs space per tile (see table above). A pen that is too small causes animals to become stressed, reducing production rates by up to 50%. Build pens at least 50% larger than the minimum — animals breed and you do not want to rebuild enclosures mid-season.
Place a feeding trough inside each pen filled with the animal's preferred feed type. Without a trough, animals forage on grass tiles within their pen — fine in spring/summer, but grass dies in winter. Stockpile hay in autumn for winter feeding.
Separate predators from prey. Boars and wolves will attack chickens and goats if housed in the same pen. Use at minimum a wooden fence between predator and prey pens. Walls are even better.