Beefalo

Adult=

Teen=

Toddler=

Baby=

"What demented thoughts must lie behind those eyes."

- Wendy

Beefalo are neutral Mobs that are indigenous to the Savanna biome unless their world generation setting is changed to "lots". When one Beefalo is attacked, all nearby Beefalo will become hostile. Beefalo deal 34 damage with each hit. They drop three Beefalo Wool, four Meat, and sometimes a Beefalo Horn when killed, and they may drop wool even if they have been shaved already. They are considered innocent creatures and killing one adds four points to the player's naughtiness level, which can cause Krampus to appear.

Beefalo can be shaved with a Razor while they sleep, which causes them to drop three Beefalo Wool. They will regain their hair back in a couple of days and can be shaved again at that point. As long as there is not already some on the ground near them, they will occasionally drop Manure (even while sleeping), which is used for fertilizing Plants and Farms.

Beefalo have a coordinated herd movement, as they try to stay together and not wander into other biomes. When dusk comes around, all nearby Beefalo will group together for the night. Herds regenerate during mating season off-screen. Beefalo need three blasts from the Ice Staff to be frozen.

Baby Beefalo
Baby Beefalo are the offspring of Beefalo. A Baby Beefalo will grow into a Toddler Beefalo, then a Teen Beefalo, and finally an adult Beefalo. Each stage takes 3 to 5 days. Baby Beefalo do not follow the player if the Beefalo Horn is used. They cannot be frozen with the Ice Staff. Killing Baby Beefalo raises the player's naughtiness by 6 points, which can summon Krampus.

They follow their parent around, they cannot attack, and run away from the player when approached. If a Baby Beefalo's parent is killed, the Baby Beefalo will still walk towards the spot where the parent died; even if it is chased away a long distance, it will slowly walk back towards the spot. If a Baby Beefalo grows into an adult Beefalo, they will stop moving towards their parent and start roaming around. Because the Baby Beefalo flees when the player approaches, they can be "herded" into a cage of walls created by the player. They can not break through the walls as they attempt to run back to the parent. This method can be used by the player to keep Beefalo in a specific location for easier farming.

Combat
When the player attacks one Beefalo, all nearby Beefalo will become aggressive. However, every Beefalo that was not attacked will lose interest in the player fairly quickly, while the one that was attacked will chase the player longer. Beefalo are faster than the player, but they must stop for a moment to attack, and their attack is not instant, meaning if the player keeps running, they probably will not get hit. This makes it possible to attack a single Beefalo and lure it away from the herd, because the rest of the herd will stop chasing. They attack slowly, with four seconds between attacks. This makes it easy to "Kite" them. If the player has a herd of Beefalo nearby them and monsters are chasing, it is possible to kite the monster into the herd. They may turn on each other, rendering the player free from peril.

Alternatively, the player can wait for nightfall when the Beefalo are asleep and plant a circle of trees around the herd. By putting a fire next to the trees and feeding it fuel, the trees will eventually catch on fire. Some of the Beefalo will perish in the fire, but the meat remains. The upsides of this strategy is that it's fairly easy to do. Furthermore, the burnt trees can be chopped down and will then leave charcoal once chopped.

Another method: at night when they sleep in a tight group, use Razor to shave the ones on the outside so the wool will be dropped on the ground, then light the wool up with a torch. The fire will damage the Beefalo for easier combat.

If a Beefalo is shot with one Sleep Dart, it will engage the player as if attacked with any other weapon. However, since the sleep dart does 0 damage, other Beefalo will not aggro. One can then lead the chasing Beefalo away from the herd and kill it.

Below is the number of hits it takes with each weapon to kill Beefalo when playing with characters with a default damage modifier. The Weather Pain is not included due to the random nature of its projectile.

Herds
Beefalo are gathered in groups called "herds". A Beefalo herd has a maximum size of 12 Beefalo. Any herd at its maximum size will not be able to spawn any Baby Beefalo, although they will still have a mating season (or be "in heat") as usual.

Beefalo herds are not fixed throughout the game: a large herd may split up into two smaller herds, and smaller herds may be merged. This "herd calculation" occurs at regular intervals throughout the game (around every five seconds).

If a potential herd member is not part of a herd, it will create its own herd (with itself as only member), and will then attempt to gather nearby members into its herd.

A herd with less than four members may merge with any other herd, provided that the resulting "final" herd does not exceed 12 members. Although not possible to predict accurately, it appears that larger groups of Beefalo in a given area increase the likelihood of multiple herds forming (in locations previously only containing one herd).

All herd have a "home", which is defined as the location where the herd was formed. Beefalo will always attempt to return to their "home" (e.g. after combat or a Beefalo horn was used), and will not wander far from their home during random wandering (so Beefalo often appear to stay in one Biome, or area within that Biome, with some variation). Subsequent herd calculations that result in a new herd will result in a new "home" for all Beefalo in the new herd.

Additionally, herds may only form within a certain range, which is why it is possible for the player to lead a number of Beefalo away from the herd with a Beefalo horn. If they are far enough from the original herd after the horn's effects are over, they will firstly attempt to rejoin their original herd; after a time (during herd calculation), they will most likely form their own herd, which will have a new "home" at the new location.

​Mating Season
During mating season, Beefalo in the world will change. Their backsides become red, and instead of looking startled, they will instantly "aggro" and attack the player when they walk by, about two berry bushes' distance. They will also be aggressive towards other mobs including Chester, as well as each other - they will charge and strike other Beefalo but do not seem to damage each other.

It appears that during mating season, attacked Beefalo will stop chasing their enemy sooner than regular Beefalo.

A few days later, all Beefalo will stop being aggressive; this is the time when Baby Beefalo will spawn.

All members of a Beefalo herd are always in the same state of heat at any one time ("in heat" or "not in heat"); however, each Beefalo herd may be in a different state of "heat", since each herd has its own "heat" timer. If there are multiple Beefalo in the same area with different states of "heat", then this indicates that there are in fact two distinct herds in the same area.

In the Reign of Giants DLC, Beefalo's will be in heat during Spring. That means as soon as a new baby is born, the Beefalo will begin spawning another. It's often possible to see two baby Beefalo at the same time during this season, even three if the heard was already in heat before Spring started.

Wearing a Beefalo Hat will ensure that the player is not attacked by Beefalo in heat. The player may then walk amongst them with impunity rather than spending time to go around them. It is also useful for safely picking up drops among the herd, since they will attack everything that goes near and small animals don't stand a chance against them. Moreover, Beefalo in heat often attack Pigs, so you can get huge amounts of meat and other Beefalo drops this way.

Beefalos during mating season often wake up whilst being shaved. This makes shaving them difficult without the Beefalo Hat.

Trivia

 * A real Beefalo is a man-made hybrid between an American Bison and domesticated cattle, intended for higher beef production.
 * The Baby Beefalo sound clips are just the normal Beefalo sound clips sped up.
 * A Baby Beefalo growing to its next stage has the same animation as an adult regrowing its wool.
 * Trapping a Baby Beefalo in a pen made of walls will cause it to try to get to its parents, but it is unable to due to the pen.
 * Maxwell has said the Koalefant is a distant cousin of the Beefalo. This might explain the slight visual similarities between the two.

Bugs

 * Sometimes Beefalo will start sleeping at dusk instead of night.
 * Occasionally when coming out of a cave, a Baby/Toddler/Teen Beefalo will start following the player until it grows into an adult or until it is killed.

Gallery
Бифало Bawół