Animal Weights

Each cow, mooshroom, pig, sheep, chicken and rabbit carries an integer weight from 0 to 8. Every in-game day, at dawn, each adult of the species is checked against four living conditions, including its surroundings. The number of conditions met sets the daily weight change, and the weight is clamped between 0 and 8. Animals that are kept well gain weight, while sick or starving animals lose it. Newly spawned mobs start at weight 1.

When an animal is killed, its drops and XP scale with its weight. Beef, porkchop, mutton, chicken, rabbit meat, leather, wool and feathers are all affected, and rabbit's foot stays rare. Low-weight animals yield fewer and sometimes no drops, with a 50 percent chance that the primary drop is removed entirely and a single-item cap on stacked drops. Breeding is blocked when both parents are in love state, and the state resets if either parent is sick. Babies are skipped by the weight check and slowness effect, and grow up in about 20 real minutes. The mechanic is meant as a long-term husbandry signal for adult animals.