Animal Pens are a category of Placeables in Farming Simulator 19. Each type of Animal Pen can be filled with a specific type of Animal and its required materials in order to generate a new (higher-value) product, breed animals for extra profit, and/or train animals to increase their sale value. The handling of animals and their products is called "Animal Husbandry", and is one of the primary ways to make a profit in this game.
This is the first game in the Farming Simulator series in which the default maps do not feature any pre-placed Animal Pens. Instead, players must purchase land Parcels and then buy Animals Pens from the "Placeables" category at the Store, to be placed wherever the player see fit. This requires plenty of money and plenty of open space, as well as forethought regarding the best place to put each pen to make the work easier.
Each type of Animal Pen can hold one specific type of animal. Animals must be purchased from the Animal Dealer, for a set price per animal. There is also an extra transportation fee per animal that can only be avoided if the player purchases an Animal Transport and uses it to manually move animals from the dealer to the pen. Animals can also be purchased directly at the Animal Pen (transport fee included), and can also be sold from there.
Each Animal Pen has multiple marked drop-off zones where materials can be dumped into the pen to be made available for the animals. Different Animal Pens accept different materials, and have a different storage capacity for each material that depends on the number of animals in the pen at any given time. Input materials cannot be removed from the pen once they've been dumped into it.
Once animals are provided with the proper materials, they will begin to produce whatever the pen is designed for. Most animals produce at least one material to be sold (or used on your fields). Animals in pens may also be able to breed, slowly filling the pen with more animals until capacity is reached. At that point, you may sell the excess animals for a profit. The Horse Paddock is the odd one out, as it does not produce materials nor breed animals, but instead increases the value of existing animals until they can be sold for much more money than their purchase price.
Most Animal Pens require quite a bit of attention. They must be supplied with materials regularly; products must be removed and taken to sell or use; animals must be sold when the pen fills up; and the animals' feeding trough must be regularly cleaned to ensure maximum production rates. The amount of effort and materials required changed from one type of pen to the next.
All Animal Pens can be sold off, if the need arises. This requires selling off all the animals first, and any materials left in the pen when it is sold will disappear without reimbursement.
Types
The base game offers five different types of Animal Pens. Each type of Pen houses a different kind of Animal, takes different types of Materials (and has different capacities for each material), and creates different products.
| Type | Animal | Input Materials | Products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken Coop |  Chickens
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| Sheep Pasture |  Sheep
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| Pig Enclosure |  Pigs
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| Cow Pasture |  Cows
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| Horse Paddock |  Horses
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Special |
The base game offers two models of each Animal Pen type - a "small" and "large" model. They differ from each other primarily by physical size and the number of animals they can house.
Placement
Farming Simulator 19 is the first game in the series where none of the default maps feature any pre-placed Animal Pens. Instead, players must purchase their own Animal Pens from the Store, and can place them down where they wish. While this means that Animal Husbandry takes more money to start off, it allows a lot of flexibility in deciding the best place for each Pen, and also allows placing multiple Animal Pens on the map if so desired.
In order to place down an Animal Pen, the player must first purchase a Parcel that is large enough to contain that Pen. Most Animal Pens are very large, and some Parcels may not have the space for them. Flatness is also an issue, so some Landscaping may be required to make the land flat enough for the Pen (note: some flattening can be done automatically during placement, but there are limits).
TIP: Since Parcels are bought and sold for the exact same price, you can purchase land parcels just to check whether they are large enough to fit a Pen, then sell them off if they are found to be unsuitable - for no loss.
Animal Pens are purchased from the "Placeables" category at the Store, where they have their own Subcategory. Each Pen model has a different purchase cost, as well as a Maintenance Cost equal to 1/1000 of its purchase price. Make sure to compare the capacity of each Pen, as larger pens can usually hold several times more animals than the small models.
Rotation can be extremely important when placing down Sheep Pastures and Chicken Coops, because of how the game handles product output for these pens. Make sure to place them at 0, 90, 180 or 270 degrees relative to north, otherwise their capacity for the output product may be reduced. Other pens do not require this consideration.
If there is no open grassy space in a Parcel, remember that you can place a pen directly onto a field. This destroys the part of the field that the pen occupies, but fields are usually placed on obstacle-free, flat space, which is perfect for pens. Make sure to fix the shape of the field after doing this, to give machines enough room to operate.
Placement Tips
There are several important things to consider when placing a Pen on the map:
- Distance to Input Material Sources: Make sure that the pen is nearby to fields where you can grow the required input materials. Placing a pen in an area with no nearby fields can result in long transportation times when taking materials to the pen. Small fields are usually enough to feed small animals (e.g. Chickens or Sheep) for many days. For larger animals, you will eventually need larger fields to keep your animals fed constantly.
- Distance to Water: Since most animals need Water, it is generally a good idea to place your early pens close to a body of water so you can collect it and transport it to the pens easily and quickly. However, later on you'll be able to place a Water Tank anywhere you want, and this functions the same as a body of water.
- Distance to Animal Trader: Some Animals (e.g. Pigs) breed so quickly that you will need to make multiple trips to the Animal Dealer per day to sell off the excess. Placing such pens close to the Animal Dealer will cut down on transport times.
- Distance to Other Pens: Some pens benefit from being close to one another, so that providing them with input materials will take less time and effort. Technically speaking, most animals require both Water and Straw, and should be placed close together. The same goes for products like Slurry and Manure, which can more easily be collected from Cow and Pig pens when they are closer together. Optimally, you'll want all your pens in the same location so a single Tractor could clean them all quickly.
- Maneuvering Space: Make sure to leave plenty of maneuvering space for vehicles around your pens. Large transport vehicles may need to enter and leave the various pick-up/drop-off points around the pen, requiring space to turn around. A space of at least 50 meters between pens should be idea.
- Storage Space: Make sure to leave room for a Hay Loft and/or Water Tank near your pens, or at least near pens that require materials stored inside those pens. If your pens are placed far from your home Silo, consider leaving space for a separate Silo nearby where Crops could be stored. Otherwise, some space for one or more Heaps of materials can be helpful, and/or space to park storage Tippers. This is especially true near Cow Pastures where you will likely want to create Total Mixed Ration from heaps of Silage.
- Conveyor Belt Space: Many Pens can benefit from the installation of Conveyor Belt systems, especially when dealing with Manure or when setting up automatic cleaning systems. Conveyor Belts do not necessarily require a lot of space, but some forethought should be put into making sure that there is enough space for them.
Buying Animals
Before a pen can do anything, you must first place at leave one animal in that pen. Animals can be acquired from the Animal Dealer, directly from the Pen itself, or transferred from one Pen to another.
Each Pen model has a limited capacity for animals, as listed at the Store. Once that limit is reached, animals inside that pen stop breeding until some room is cleared.
Since most animals breed over time, it is generally a good idea to purchase only a handful of animals to start with, and allow them to fill the pen themselves. The exception are Chickens, whose price is so low that you can easily buy hundreds to start with, and Horses who do not breed at all.
Animal Dealer
- Main article: Animal Dealer (Farming Simulator 19)
The primary place to purchase animals is at the Animal Dealer. Outside the building is a large marked area for animal transactions, where animals can be bought or sold.
Standing on this area and hitting the "Open Animal Dialog" button 
Open Animal DialogDefault Buttons: 
R
??
?? will open the animal purchase/sale menu. This button behaves differently depending on circumstances:
- If you have no Animal Pens, the menu will refuse to open.
- If you have only one Animal Pen, the menu will open for that specific pen, allowing you to purchase animals directly for that pen. It will only show animals that match the pen.
- If you have multiple Animal Pens, you will first be asked to select one. The menu will then open for that specific pen. It will only show animals that match the pen.
- If you open the menu while inside a vehicle towing an Animal Transport, the menu will open for that transport, allowing you to move animals into/out of it. With Animal Transports the menu shows all types of animals that are available for purchase and can be carried in an Animal Transport, even if the current transport cannot carry every type of animal.
In the Animal Dialog menu, you can move animals from the Animal Dealer to your selected target. A list at the center of the screen shows the amount of money you would need to pay, including Transport Fees if applicable. You may move animals back and forth at will. When you are satisfied with your choice, hit the "confirm" button Confirm Animal TransferDefault Buttons: Spacebar ?? ?? to pay the stated amount and finalize the transfer.
If animals are being moved directly to or from an Animal Pen, you will have to pay a transport fee for each animal. Larger (more expensive) animals have a higher transport fee.
To avoid the transport fee entirely, visit the animal dealer while in a vehicle towing an Animal Transport. You will be able to purchase animals into the transport without paying any fee. You will then need to drive the transport to the Animal Pen and drop them off there manually.
Animal Pen
Instead of visiting the Animal Dealer, you can purchase animals for a pen directly at the pen. Each Pen has a marked area that functions similarly to the Animal Dealer sale area, as described above.
When purchasing directly at the Animal Pen, this pen is automatically selected as the destination for the animals. You cannot buy animals for one pen at another pen.
When purchasing this way, you will always have to pay a Transport Fee. Putting an Animal Transport on the marked area will instead allow you to move animals from the pen into the transport, e.g. when you wish to take them to be sold.
Transfers
Instead of purchasing new animals for a pen, you can transfer existing animals from one pen to another. This is very useful when expanding your business by buying more pens of the same type that you already have. Simply populate the new pen with a few animals from an existing one.
To transfer animals, you will always have to use an Animal Transport, and manually load them / drop them off. There are no transport fees involved.