Milky Way
by davigj
Milky Way puts a cooldown on milking mobs, so a cow gives bucket milk about twice a day by default instead of instantly and without limit.
What it does
Resources that mobs such as cows and mooshrooms provide now depend on a cooldown timer. Mobs are sorted into four entity type tags (bucket milkable, worse bucket milkable, bowl milkable and bottle milkable), and each tag has its own timer in seconds in the config. By default a cow in the bucket tag can be milked roughly twice a day, while mobs in the worse bucket tag wait a full day. Harvesting mushroom stew from mooshrooms follows the same rule. A mob still on cooldown spawns a particle to show it is not ready, and that particle can be turned off with the angryParticle option.
The mod adds some challenge to farming and is mainly meant to encourage alternative milk farms, such as those that add milking through other blocks or crops. Blueprint is required, and Buzzier Bees, Caverns & Chasms, Environmental and You've Goat to be Kidding Me are optional companions that add mobs the tags can cover. Milky Way runs on client and server, so the server and every player need it. Files are published for Forge and NeoForge for three game versions, 1.19.2, 1.20.1 and 1.21.1, and the code is open source under the MIT License.
Key features
Milking cooldown
Milking a mob with a bucket or bottle starts a cooldown, so each animal gives output on a schedule.
Four milkable tags
Entity type tags group mobs into bucket, worse bucket, bowl and bottle milkable, each with its own timer.
Configurable timers
The bucketTimer, worseBucketTimer, bowlTimer and bottleTimer values set each cooldown in seconds.
Cooldown particle
A mob that is not ready spawns a particle, which can be disabled with the angryParticle option.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Requirements
Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.
Required 1
Optional 5
Use cases
Slower milk farms
Cow pens produce a limited amount of milk over time, which suits players who want to plan their output.
Alternative milk sources
The mod is meant to work alongside other ways to get milk, so a farm can rely on several sources at once.
Who it’s for: Players who want milking to take time, and server owners who want a cooldown on animal output in a shared world.
How it compares
Squid Milking is a Forge and NeoForge mod for 1.20.1 – 1.21.1, under the CC0 1.0 Universal license and not open source. Give Moo a Break is a NeoForge mod for 1.21.1 with a similar purpose, released under the MIT License and open source. Milky Way covers 1.19.2, 1.20.1 and 1.21.1 on Forge and NeoForge, which means it also reaches 1.19.2 and 1.20.1 builds that the other two do not.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milky Way | Forge and NeoForge | 1.19.2 – 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2025-09-27 |
| Squid Milking | Forge and NeoForge | 1.20.1 – 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2026-09-08 |
| Give Moo a Break | NeoForge | 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2026-09-07 |
Questions
Does Milky Way need Blueprint?
Does Milky Way have to be installed on the server?
Can the cooldown timers be changed?
Does Milky Way work with Cobblemon?
In the catalog
Milky Way is one of 7,555 Cursed mods on ModsFinder, and one of 3,426 Cursed mods for Forge. 32,366 mods support Minecraft 1.21.1.
More from davigj
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What the author says
With this mod, certain resources offered by mobs such as cows and mooshrooms now rely on a cooldown. By default, this means cows can be milked with a bucket roughly twice a day (as opposed to one animal giving infinite and instantaneous milk). This duration is configurable. Other resources, such as harvesting…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/milky-way
- Owner
- davigj
- Published
- 2023-12-17
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-09-27
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15