Which Animals Produce Highest Profit In Harvest Moon Sunshine Islands?

I've sunk so many hours into 'Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands' that my DS still bears indentations from frantic A-button mashing on festival days — and from those playthroughs, the animals that fatten your wallet the most are pretty predictable if you focus on processed goods and high-quality outputs. For steady, long-term profit I always lean on cows first. They give the most consistent, high-value milk, and when you turn that milk into cheese (or higher-tier dairy products, depending on how you play), the per-animal profit jumps way up. Goats sit right behind cows for me; goat milk often fetches more than regular cow milk and makes really lucrative goat cheese. Sheep are my third pick: wool doesn’t always seem flashy day-to-day, but with the right processing — think spinning or cloth-making tools — wool turns into a product that out-earns raw wool by a solid margin. Pigs are the wildcard: they don’t pay off every day, but when they dig up a treasure or truffle, you can get a huge payday. Chickens are the classic early-game MVP: cheap upkeep, fast returns, and if you convert eggs into mayonnaise or similar processed goods, they remain surprisingly profitable even late into a run.


If you want to maximize profit per animal, two big patterns matter more than the specific creature: process raw goods, and raise animal happiness. Processing is where the major multipliers live — milk to cheese, eggs to mayonnaise, wool to cloth — so investing in the relevant machines or kitchen setups early will change every animal’s value. Happy animals give larger or higher-grade outputs, so I pet, brush, and let mine out to graze whenever possible; it’s boring but it’s super effective. Also, upgrade barns and coops so you can house more animals and get improved output quality. Star-level animals (you’ll know them when their names glow) produce noticeably better goods, so buy or breed higher-quality stock if you can swing it.


From a playstyle perspective I switch between a few strategies depending on my mood. If I want low-maintenance, steady income while I explore the islands, a handful of cows plus a few chickens covers bills and gives spare cash for upgrades. If I’m late-game and optimizing for big-ticket items, I go heavy on pigs and goats and spam processing machines — that combo yields the biggest single-day bank boosts when the pigs find rare stuff and the cheeses/cloth sell for top money. Early-game, don’t ignore chickens; they’re cheap, and mayonnaise or premium eggs can bail you out during the slow harvest seasons.


Personally, one of my favorite runs was when I treated the farm like a little artisan workshop: three cows, two goats, five sheep, and a dozen chickens. I spent mornings hand-feeding and brushing, afternoons spinning wool and making cheese, and evenings plotting which island to tackle next. Money wasn’t instant, but once I had the processing chain humming I could buy islands and still have cash left for silly little touches like new decorations. My biggest tip: pick a core trio (cows, sheep, chickens) and get processing lined up early — you’ll hit a sustainable, fun rhythm way faster than trying to go all-in on any single animal at first. If you want, tell me which season you’re in or how many barns you have and I can help sketch a tailored profit plan.