Ranching

Overview

Ranching is one of the core life systems available at the Greymane Camp in Crimson Desert. Once unlocked, the ranch gives players a dedicated area to raise domestic livestock including goats, pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, and ducks. Animals produce renewable resources such as meat, milk, eggs, fleece, hides, and bones that feed directly into the cooking and crafting systems. The ranch operates alongside the farm, and together they form a self-sustaining supply chain that reduces dependence on vendors and field gathering. When properly managed, the ranching system becomes entirely self-sustaining through breeding, with offspring replacing any animals you slaughter or sell.

The ranch initially supports up to 25 animals. Through camp upgrades, this capacity can be increased to 35 animals, allowing for larger herds and greater resource output. Planning your animal composition carefully within these limits is important for maximizing production. If the ranch reaches capacity, sell surplus livestock to Bram to free up slots before catching or purchasing new animals.

Unlike many RPGs where resource collection happens through menus, Crimson Desert requires players to physically interact with their livestock. Kliff catches wild animals by chasing them down, carries them back to camp on his shoulders, registers them at the ranch pens, and manages them through direct actions rather than abstract interfaces. Pearl Abyss showcased these mechanics in the Features Overview #3: Life in Pywel trailer, which includes footage of Kliff hoisting a pig and walking it between pens.

Unlocking the Ranch

The ranch is unlocked through the Grounds of the Sunrise faction questline, which becomes available after completing Chapter 4 of the main story. Players must progress through this faction's quests until they reach "A Rumor in Goldleaf Trading Post," which introduces two key NPCs: Ben (the ranch manager) and Kamu (the farm manager). Ben handles all ranch-related quests, while Kamu handles the parallel farming unlock. To access this quest, open the Journal, navigate to Faction Quests, select Grounds of the Sunrise, and progress through the Gathered Will tab.

Ben is recruited through the camp rebuilding quests as part of the Grounds of the Sunrise storyline. After meeting Ben during the quest, return to the Greymane Camp and speak with him to start the "Field of Abundance" quest. The ranch unlock then proceeds through the following steps:

1. Milk Harvest Mission: Ben asks you to dispatch companions to Bloomwood Ranch for a cow milking operation. This is a dispatch mission where you send your Greymanes to complete it on your behalf; you do not milk the cows yourself. Assign available Freeswords through the dispatch system and wait for the mission to complete.

2. Ranch Construction: After the Bloomwood Ranch mission finishes, dispatch another mission to Howling Hill to construct the ranch facility at camp. This construction mission takes approximately 18 in-game hours to complete. You must assign at least six Greymanes to the dispatch, and at least one of them must have the Builder (Construction) skill. Only one construction mission can run at camp at a time, so if you are also building the farm, you must wait for one to finish before starting the other.

3. Ben's Request: Once the ranch is built, Ben assigns a tutorial quest that teaches the fundamentals of ranch management. This quest requires you to catch a wild goat, bring it back to the ranch, register it as livestock, and slaughter an animal for meat. Completing this quest fully activates all ranch functionality.

Builder Prerequisite

Constructing the ranch requires at least one recruit with the Builder skill in your companion roster. Without a Builder, the ranch construction dispatch mission at Howling Hill remains locked. The construction dispatch also requires a minimum of six Greymane companions to be assigned. Since only one construction mission can run at a time, a practical approach is to build the farm first if you plan to unlock both. Apple trees take real in-game time to mature, so starting the farm early lets your first batch of crops grow while you complete Ben's ranch tutorial missions.

Ben's Request Walkthrough

Ben's Request is the tutorial quest that teaches players the basics of ranch operation. It cannot be skipped, and completing it is required before the ranch becomes fully functional. The quest has three main objectives.

Catching a Wild Goat

Head east out of the camp near the fast travel point on the southeast cliffside. Wild goats roam the area around Howling Hill in significant numbers. Approach a goat and interact with it to grab it. Kliff physically picks up the animal and carries it on his shoulders. You can mount your horse while carrying livestock to travel faster. For this quest specifically, grab an adult goat rather than a baby. Bringing back an adult animal skips the waiting period required for babies to mature.

Registering Livestock

Once you return to camp with the goat, carry it to the designated ranch area and set it down inside the pen. The game registers the animal as part of your livestock roster through a prompt that appears when you place it in the correct zone. A cutscene plays confirming the registration. After registration, the goat appears in the Manage Ranch menu when you speak with Ben or Bram.

Slaughtering for Meat

After registering the goat, speak with Ben and select the Manage Ranch option. Browse your animal roster, select the adult goat, and choose the Slaughter option. This produces meat and materials that go into your inventory. The quest completes once you report the results back to Ben. Slaughtering is a permanent action; the animal is consumed and cannot be recovered.

Ranch Animals

Six types of livestock can be raised at the ranch. Each animal produces different resources when kept alive and yields different materials when slaughtered. Some animals are available immediately after building the ranch, while others require building trust with specific NPCs across Pywel before Ben will sell them.

Wild goats can also be caught in the field and brought back to the ranch without meeting trust requirements, but the NPC-purchased versions skip the transport step entirely. Ducks are notably different from the other animals because they have not been found roaming in the wild; the only known way to acquire them is to steal them from NPC-owned farms. For a complete list of all animal-derived materials in the game, see the All Animal Products page.

Animal Ranks and Leveling

Every ranch animal has a rank that ranges from 1 to 5. Higher-ranked animals produce better-quality resources and yield larger quantities of materials when slaughtered or harvested. Animals increase their rank by eating, so keeping your livestock well-fed is essential for improving output over time.

Animals level up by eating food. The most effective way to raise an animal's rank quickly is to drop food directly on the ground near the animal rather than relying solely on the communal feed bin. When food is placed on the ground near livestock, they begin eating almost immediately and can level up significantly faster. Some players report that after hand-dropping food, animals leveled up to Rank 4 nearly instantly. You can feed an animal up to three times per in-game day using this method.

Raising animals to Rank 5 before slaughtering them is strongly recommended. A Rank 5 pig yields substantially more marbled meat and sells for far more camp money than a Rank 1 pig. The time invested in feeding pays off significantly when you harvest the higher-quality resources.

Quick Reputation Unlock Loop

A small handful of NPC reputations is all you need to unlock every baby creature for purchase from Ben at your ranch. Each NPC accepts a few specific gift types and, once you reach maximum reputation (100), adds a new creature to Ben's shop inventory. You can grind these reputations as early as you meet the relevant NPC in the field, even before the main-story quests around them resolve.

Willian is the child you help during the early-game Missing Companion quest chain. After the quest concludes, he stays in the middle of the field at Bloomwood Ranch and is easy to find. Because he accepts bugs, the fastest way to max his reputation is to sweep the hives at the Pollengarth Apiary (wearing a Beekeeping Suit to avoid the stings) and hand over a stack of bees and other insects.

All of these NPCs can be progressed in parallel with the main story. If you are running Ibano's or Bremer's questlines, stop by and drop off a handful of money pouches each visit to speed the reputation grind along. Once reputation hits 100, the corresponding baby creature appears in Ben's ranch shop at Greymane Camp, ready to be purchased and raised.

Once a creature is in the ranch pen, feed it and let it grow to adulthood for the full resource loop: meat from every animal, milk from cows, eggs from chickens, fleece from sheep, and feathers (sacrificed chickens). See the Slaughtering and Products table below for the complete material yields per species.

NPC Trust and Purchasing Livestock

Most livestock types are locked behind NPC trust relationships. Rather than manually transporting animals from the wild every time, players can unlock the ability to purchase livestock directly from Ben at the camp ranch by reaching 100 Trust with specific NPCs across Pywel. Once you hit 100 Trust with an NPC, the corresponding animal type appears in Ben's shop menu permanently.

Coin Purses and Money Bags are among the most efficient gifts for building trust with any NPC. If you are having trouble locating Brema or Willian, try progressing to Chapter 5 of the main story. During Chapter 5, many NPCs congregate in the City of Hernand, making it easier to find them in one trip rather than traveling to their scattered ranch locations.

Alternative Ways to Get Livestock

Purchasing from Ben after building trust is the most convenient method, but there are other ways to stock your ranch.

Catching Wild Animals

Wild goats are the most accessible animal to catch in the field. They roam near Howling Hill, and the area east of the camp is particularly dense with them. Sprint toward a goat until the interaction prompt appears, grab it, and ride your horse back to camp. When you carry an animal into the ranch registration area, a cutscene plays and the animal is added to your roster. Baby animals can also be caught, but they require time to mature at the ranch before producing anything useful. Catching adults is always more efficient for immediate returns.

You can also pick up other wild animals you encounter in the open world and guide them to the registration area at camp. Any compatible domestic animal brought into the registration zone triggers the registration cutscene.

Acquiring Dairy Cows

Dairy cows can be found as wild herds near St. Halassius House of Healing. These specific animals have no stealing prompt and can be taken freely. The key distinction is that only cows with "Dairy" explicitly in their name can be registered at your ranch. Regular wild cows without the Dairy label cannot be registered. Sprint toward a dairy cow until the ride prompt appears, mount it, and ride it back to camp without dismounting. If you dismount before reaching the ranch, the cow will flee and you will need to find another one.

Livestock Poaching

Animals can be stolen from NPC farms across Pywel, though this requires equipping a criminal mask purchased from any Back Alley Shop for 10 copper coins. With the mask equipped, approach a farm animal and press the interaction button to pick it up, then carry it away. For cows, you can ride them directly back to camp with your mask on. The farm near Brema's location at Murkwood Ranch is a convenient target because it has multiple animals and is relatively close to the Greymane Camp.

Each theft costs -5 Contribution EXP in the local region. If spotted by an NPC, you also receive a bounty. See the Crime System article for details on bounties and how to clear them. Ducks are a special case: they have not been found in the wild and can only be obtained by stealing them from NPC farms. Equip your criminal mask and look for ducks at the various ranch properties around Pywel.

Livestock Black Market

Stolen livestock can be fenced through the Livestock Black Market. One known black market location is a windmill along the lower cliffs just south of Hernand Church, in the southern farmland below the town. A dealer named Edmond operates out of this spot, though actual sales go through the back alley merchant rather than Edmond directly. The silver values for fencing stolen animals are low, so poaching livestock is generally more practical for stocking your own ranch than for earning money. For more details on fencing and the crime economy, see the Selling Stolen Goods article.

Feeding and Breeding

Livestock at the ranch require food to grow, level up, and produce resources. The ranch has a communal feeding bin located in the center of the ranch area where you can deposit food for your animals. Each animal type has dietary preferences, and understanding which foods work best is critical for efficient ranching.

Feeding Mechanics

There are two methods for feeding ranch animals, and they differ significantly in effectiveness:

• Feed Bin: Place food items in the communal feed bin at the center of the ranch. Animals will periodically walk to the bin and eat from it. This is the passive method and works over time, but animals eat slowly and level up gradually. The feed bin is best used to keep animals from going hungry when you are away from the ranch.

• Dropping Food on the Ground: Open your inventory and discard food items directly onto the ground near the animals. This method causes livestock to eat almost immediately and levels them up significantly faster than the feed bin. Some players report that after hand-dropping food near their animals, livestock leveled from Rank 1 to Rank 4 nearly instantly. This is the recommended method for power-leveling your herd.

Known Feed Bin Bug

Many players have reported a persistent bug where the feed bin consumes food normally but animals do not gain any rank from eating at it. The feed bin empties over time, yet livestock show no growth after days of in-game time. This bug has been documented since the game's early access period. The most reliable workaround is to drop food directly on the ground near individual animals rather than relying on the bin. When you manually drop food, animals walk over and eat it visibly, triggering rank increases on the spot. If you notice your animals are not leveling up despite a stocked bin, switch entirely to ground-dropping until the bug is patched.

Feeder Refill and Instant Growth Trick

If you forgot to stock the feeder in the middle of the ranch for a long stretch and your chicks, kids, piglets, or lambs are stuck at baby size, there is a manual fix that bypasses the normal maturation timer. First, put grain (barley, wheat, or any other cereal) or fruit (apples, oranges, any fruit works) back into the feeder to refill it. Then physically pick up the stunted baby creature, carry it a few steps, and set it back down on the ground. The moment you place it down, it transforms instantly into its adult form. Chicks pop straight into roosters or hens with no waiting.

This trick is specifically for the case where a baby animal's growth stalled because the feeder was empty. After refilling the feeder and doing the pick-up-and-drop, you do not need to wait any further in-game days for the maturation to complete. Use it any time you come back to the ranch and notice that day 200-plus has passed without your chicks growing into chickens.

Pet Interference Warning

If you have an active pet companion following you, unsummon it before dropping food on the ground for your livestock. Pets will attempt to eat any food you drop, consuming items that were intended for your ranch animals. Open the Inventory screen, navigate to the Pets tab, and unsummon your companion before feeding sessions. Resummon it after you finish. This is especially important when power-leveling animals by hand-dropping large quantities of food at once.

Best Foods for Livestock

Not all food items work equally well for ranch animals. Grains, root vegetables, and flowers are generally accepted, while prepared meals, cheese, and lettuce are poor choices. The following foods are the most effective for feeding livestock:

Foods that do not work well for ranch animals include lettuce, cheese, and cooked meals. Stick to raw grains, root vegetables, and fruits for reliable results. Corn and oats double as horse feed, so sharing stock between the stable and ranch is efficient.

If animals are not eating from the feeder as expected, try dropping food directly on the ground near them. Some players have found that manually placing food near specific animals is more reliable than relying solely on the feeding bin, particularly for baby animals that need to eat in order to mature. Keep the bins stocked consistently; an empty bin means animals stop growing and producing.

Breeding and Maturation

Ranch animals can produce offspring when the right conditions are met. You need at least one male and one female of the same species in your ranch. To check an animal's gender, use the lantern to inspect it. Female animals will have "Female" displayed in their name tag (for example, "Female Sheep"), while male animals are listed by the species name alone.

Successful breeding and maturation requires three conditions to be met simultaneously:

1. Food must be available in the feeding bin or dropped nearby.

2. You must be physically present at the ranch (animals do not mature while you are away).

3. A baby animal must walk to the feeding bin and eat. Maturation triggers randomly after the baby eats.

There is no notification when offspring are born. New baby animals simply appear in the pen alongside their parents. Check your ranch regularly to notice new additions. Fed animals with a male and female pair will eventually produce babies on their own.

The requirement to be physically present at the ranch is important. Unlike dispatch missions or crop growth, which progress on in-game timers regardless of your location, animal maturation only advances when Kliff is standing at the ranch. Plan to spend time at camp between adventures to check on your livestock. Using the bed in your house to advance time does not substitute for physical presence at the ranch pens.

Slaughtering and Products

Ranch animals can be slaughtered for meat and crafting materials through the Manage Ranch menu. Speak with Ben or Bram at the ranch, select Manage Ranch, choose an animal from your roster, and select the Slaughter option. Each animal type yields different materials. Higher-ranked animals yield greater quantities and better-quality materials.

Slaughtering is permanent. The animal is consumed and the resulting materials go into your inventory. Before slaughtering, consider whether the animal is more valuable alive. Goats and cows produce milk repeatedly over time, and chickens produce eggs. Selling a single goat yields a one-time payout, while keeping it alive and harvesting milk generates more total value across multiple cycles. Slaughter livestock primarily when you need specific crafting materials like hides, bones, or a particular meat type for a cooking recipe.

Best Animals for Late Game

Not all livestock types are equally valuable in the late game. As you progress through the later chapters and need specific materials for high-tier upgrades and the best cooking recipes, certain animals stand out as priorities for your ranch.

For a balanced late-game ranch, prioritize keeping several cows for milk and Large Bone access, a herd of pigs for income and Marbled Meat, and a few sheep for Fleece production. Chickens and goats are useful early on but become less critical as you unlock the higher-value animals.

Bram and Selling Livestock

An NPC named Bram operates at the camp ranch alongside Ben. While Ben handles the initial setup quests and livestock purchases, Bram serves as the day-to-day ranch operator for selling animals. You can sell surplus livestock directly to Bram for silver, creating an additional income stream. This is a legal transaction and does not incur any Contribution penalty. Bram is located next to the butcher area, underneath the hanging signboard with the gold coins.

Selling 3 goats to Bram is also required for the "The Herder's Lament" Sealed Abyss Artifact challenge. The artifact for this challenge is located on the side of the road northwest of the Torchlight Beacon, underneath the second "N" of Hernand on the map. Make sure you have at least 3 goats registered before attempting this challenge. For a complete breakdown of all methods and locations for selling animals, see the How to Sell Animals guide.

Ranch Expansion

The ranch starts with a capacity of 25 animals and limited pen space. Through camp upgrades, this capacity increases to a maximum of 35 animals. Each expansion tier allows more animal types, increases the maximum number of livestock you can keep, and adds larger pens. Expanded capacity is especially important because animal products like milk, eggs, and meat are used in many of the higher-tier cooking recipes that provide the strongest combat buffs.

Ranch expansion is tied to the broader camp expansion system. Upgrading the camp requires donating resources (Armaments, Stones, Timber, Food, and Money) to Carl at the Supply Management office. Prioritize Armaments donations, as they tend to be the biggest bottleneck for the third and fourth camp expansion tiers. Each expansion tier makes the ranch more productive by accommodating larger herds, which in turn produce more ingredients per in-game day.

Connection to Other Systems

The ranch does not exist in isolation. Livestock products tie into nearly every other system at the Greymane Camp and beyond.

Tips

• Build the farm before the ranch if you plan to unlock both. Apple trees take real in-game time to mature, so starting them early lets crops grow while you work through Ben's ranch quests.

• Catch adult goats instead of babies for immediate returns. Babies require you to stand at the ranch and wait for them to mature, while adults start producing right away.

• Drop food directly on the ground near your animals instead of relying on the feed bin. This method levels animals up significantly faster, and some players report reaching Rank 4 almost immediately with hand-dropped food.

• Unsummon your pet companion before dropping food on the ground for livestock. Active pets will eat the food you drop, wasting resources intended for your ranch animals. Open Inventory, go to Pets, and unsummon before each feeding session.

• The feed bin has a known bug where it consumes food but animals do not gain ranks from it. If your animals are not leveling despite a full bin, switch to ground-dropping as a workaround.

• Feed animals barley, oats, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, or beetroot for the best results. Avoid lettuce, cheese, and prepared meals.

• Gift Coin Purses or Money Bags to NPCs for the fastest trust gains. Building trust with Brema, Willian, and Ebano unlocks cows, sheep, and goats for purchase from Ben without the hassle of transporting animals from the wild.

• Gift candles to Ben to build his trust and unlock baby pigs for purchase. Candles can be found scattered around the Greymane Camp near lanterns and on tables.

• Keep your feeding bins stocked at all times. Animals that go hungry stop producing resources and baby animals will not mature.

• Use the lantern to check animal genders. Make sure you have both male and female animals of the same species for breeding. Females show "Female" in their name tag; males are listed by species name only.

• Level animals to Rank 5 before slaughtering them. A Rank 5 pig sells for approximately 1,000 camp money, and higher-ranked animals yield more and better materials.

• Do not slaughter animals unless you specifically need crafting materials. Keeping animals alive for recurring milk, egg, and fleece production generates more total value over time than a one-time slaughter payout.

• Sell surplus animals to Bram when you approach the ranch capacity limit. Freeing slots lets you catch or breed new livestock without losing access to other animals.

• Selling 3 goats to Bram completes The Herder's Lament Sealed Abyss Artifact challenge. The artifact is on the side of the road northwest of the Torchlight Beacon. Catch or purchase extra goats before selling your entire stock.

• Ducks cannot be found in the wild. The only way to acquire them is to steal them from NPC farms using a criminal mask from a Back Alley Shop.

• Check on your ranch regularly between adventures. Animal maturation and breeding only progress while you are physically present at the ranch.

• Progress to Chapter 5 if you are struggling to locate Brema or Willian. Many NPCs gather in the City of Hernand during this chapter, making trust-building much more convenient.

• Dairy cows near St. Halassius House of Healing can be taken without stealing. Only cows with "Dairy" in the name can be registered. Do not dismount during the ride back or the cow will flee.

• Steal animals from the farm near Brema's location at Murkwood Ranch for a convenient poaching spot. Equip a criminal mask from a Back Alley Shop before attempting. You can ride stolen cows back to camp with the mask on.

• Coordinate ranch production with your cooking goals. Check which recipes you need, identify the required animal products, and stock the appropriate livestock type before grinding a specific recipe.

• Prioritize cows, pigs, and sheep for late-game value. Cows provide Large Bones for upgrades, pigs yield the best meat and selling price, and sheep are the only reliable source of Fleece for armor crafting.

See Also