Beefalo

"What demented thoughts must lie behind those eyes."

- Wendy

Beefalo are neutral Mobs that are indigenous to the Savanna biome unless the 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 Meats , and sometimes a Beefalo Horn , when killed, 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. They need three blasts from the Ice Staff to be frozen.

Combat
When the player attacks one Beefalo, all nearby Beefalos 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 Beefalos 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 Beefalos for easier combat.

Herds
Beefalos are gathered in groups called "herds". A Beefalo herd has a maximum size of 12 Beefaloes. Any herd at its maximum size will not be able to spawn any Baby Beefalos, although they will still have a mating season (or be "on 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 together. 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 Beefalos 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. Beefalos 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 Beefalos 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 Beefaloes in the same area with different states of "heat", then this indicates that there are in fact two distinct herds in the same area.

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, Beefaloes in heat often attack Pigs, which can defeat them, so you can get huge amounts of meat and other Beefalo drops this way.

Bugs

 * Sometimes, a single Beefalo will spawn when the player exits a Wormhole.
 * Sometimes, when you kill a Beefalo near enough for another Beefalo to become aggressive, the second one will chase you forever. The only way to stop it chasing you is to kill it as well.
 * Sometimes Beefalo will start sleeping at dusk instead of night.