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Animal Pens project artwork

CurseForge · Minecraft mod

Animal Pens

Reduce lag and keep your animals neatly stored while maintaining full interactivity!

Choose a version Pick your version below, then grab the matching file.

Quick answer

Which Animal Pens release should I use?

Updated 19 days ago
Latest stable file animal_pen-neoforge-26.3-2.5.2
Game version 26.3
Loader NeoForge

Animal Pens animal_pen-neoforge-26.3-2.5.2 targets 26.3 with NeoForge. The project page does not say whether this file belongs on the client, dedicated server, or both. No extra mods listed for this file.

Where it goes

Is Animal Pens required on the client, server, or both?

The project page does not say whether this file belongs on the client, dedicated server, or both.

Client Source doesn’t say
Dedicated server Source doesn’t say
Loader for this release NeoForge
Required install it here Optional supported, not mandatory Not supported do not install here Source doesn’t say do not assume

The source does not explicitly classify this release as client-only or server-only.

What else does Animal Pens animal_pen-neoforge-26.3-2.5.2 need?

animal_pen-neoforge-26.3-2.5.2. Change the file and its required mods may change too.

No extra mods listed for this file

This file does not list any required mods. Do not add a library just because a different file uses it.

Patchouli Optional for Animal Pens animal_pen-neoforge-26.3-2.5.2
optional
No matching file

We only count dependency files that match this setup. A file for another loader does not fill the gap.

Before you install it

Add Animal Pens without breaking your instance.

Built for Animal Pens animal_pen-neoforge-26.3-2.5.2. Pick another file and the loader, install side or required mods may change.

  1. 01

    Stick to this file

    Use animal_pen-neoforge-26.3-2.5.2. It targets 26.3 with NeoForge; another release may have different loader, side or dependency requirements.

  2. 02

    Bring the mods it needs

    This file does not list any required mods. Do not add a library just because a different file uses it.

  3. 03

    Put it on the correct side

    The project page does not say whether this file belongs on the client, dedicated server, or both.

  4. 04

    Pick the file you checked

    Use the “Get this file” button beside animal_pen-neoforge-26.3-2.5.2. It opens that exact file at the source.

About this project

What does Animal Pens add?

🐾 Animal Pens Mod

✅ Optimize Your Farms & Reduce Lag!

Tired of lag caused by massive animal farms? Animal Pens lets you store animals in specialized pens, aquariums and aviaries while keeping full functionality!
No more overcrowded barns - keep your animals neatly contained while still breeding, shearing, milking, and collecting drops like normal.


🎮 How It Works:

✔️ Animal Cage & Container – Capture land animals with the Animal Cage and water creatures with the Animal Container.
✔️ Feeding animals acts as breeding – No need for free-roaming animals, just feed them inside their pen!
✔️ Most vanilla interactions(1) are possible, including:
🗡️ Animal farming for loot
✂️ Shearing sheep
🥛 Milking cows, mooshrooms, and goats
🍄 Collecting mushroom stew from mooshrooms
🐝 Bee pollen regeneration
🐢 Turtle scutes dropping based on settings
🖌️ Brush scutes from armadillo
🧺 Water bucket to pick up fishes or axolotls

✔️ Custom Interactions:
🔹 Chickens, Turtles and Sniffers – Use a bucket to collect eggs.
🔹 Turtles – Drop scutes after feeding (configurable timing).
🔹 Sniffers – Require a bowl to drop seeds.
🔹 Fish Feeding – Fish eat kelp & seagrass, while other water creatures eat fish.
🔹 Frogs – Drop Frog Lights when fed a Magma Cube.

✔️ Variant Storage & Selection
• Picking up an animal saves its variant inside the cage.
• Right-click an empty-handed pen to view stored variants.
• If visual animal growing is enabled, you can adjust the display size of the animals. • You can adjust the minimal amount of animals that should be protected from killing. • You can toggle if animal pen/aquarium should be interactable only by you.

✔️ Releasing animals by crouch clicking on ground.
✔️ Animal Pens, Aquariums and Aviaries can send Redstone signal with comparator.
✔️ Dispenser can be used on Animal Pens, Aquariums and Aviaries with certain tools.

(1) Features not added:
Any animal transformation
Any animal interaction with other entities


🔧 Customizable Settings:

Easily adjust gameplay with the mod’s configuration file [config/animal_pen_config.json], allowing you to tweak:

🗡️ Attack cooldown - Allows to change how fast players can kill animals in pen.

📏 Animal Growth System (Optional):
• If enabled, more animals = larger pen display.
• Adjustable growth multiplier.

🎨 Stored Variants – Allows to change how many variants can be stored per pen.

🚫 Blocked Animals List – Prevent specific mobs from being captured.


🔧 Data Driven Settings:

Added Three New Item Tags:

These tags define which items can attack their respective blocks:

  • animal_pen:can_attack_aquarium – Items in this tag can attack the Aquarium block.
  • animal_pen:can_attack_pen – Items in this tag can attack the Animal Pen block.
  • animal_pen:can_attack_aviary – Items in this tag can attack the Aviary block.

Example: Adding Custom Weapons

To allow custom_knife and modded_dagger to attack pens, create the following file in your datapack:

📂 For Minecraft 1.20.6 and Below:

Path: your_custom_datapack/data/animal_pen/tags/items/can_attack_pen.json

📂 For Minecraft 1.21 and Above:

Path: your_custom_datapack/data/animal_pen/tags/item/can_attack_pen.json

{
  "replace": false,
  "values": [
    "mod1_id:custom_knife",
    "mod2_id:modded_dagger"
  ]
}

This allows custom weapons to be used for attacking animal pens and aquariums.

Added Three New Entity Tags:

These tags define which items can attack their respective blocks:

  • animal_pen:animal_cage_pickable – Mobs that can be picked up by Animal Cage.
  • animal_pen:bird_catcher_pickable – Mobs that can be picked up by Bird Catcher.
  • animal_pen:water_mob_container_pickable – Mobs that can be picked up by Water Animal Container.

📂 For Minecraft 1.20.6 and Below:

Path: <your_custom_datapack>/data/animal_pen/tags/entity_types/animal_cage_pickable.json

📂 For Minecraft 1.21 and Above:

Path: <your_custom_datapack>/data/animal_pen/tags/entity_type/animal_cage_pickable.json

Customizable Interaction

You can also add or change interactions each animal. You can do it with data packs. To add animal interaction you need to create a file: <your_custom_datapack>/data/<your_data_pack_id>/animal_interactions/<your_interaction>.json To change animal interaction you need to change animal file: <your_custom_datapack>/data/minecraft/animal_interactions/<entity_id>.json

The interaction definition you can check at: Wiki

Default Data Packs

Already made Expansions


📜 Commands:

Use these commands (server moderators) to manage the mod:

💾 /animal_pen reset – Resets the config file to default values.
🔄 /animal_pen reload – Reloads the config file without restarting the game.


🛠️ Requirements:

📌 Architectury API (Required till 1.21.11).
📖 Patchouli (Optional, adds an in-game guidebook).
🛠️ ClothConfigAPI (Optional, adds config editing GUI).


🎨 Mod Artwork:

Credit to Breadcrumb5550 for the mod’s blocks and items!
Credit to Neentarts for block decorations!


With Animal Pens, you can **reduce lag, keep your farms organized, and maintain full interactivity!

Feel free to use this mod in your modpacks.**

Project description from CurseForge.

Pick your setup

Animal Pens by Minecraft version and loader

Choose the version and loader you play, then open the matching release.

60 available setups

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Recent files

Animal Pens versions and loaders

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Looking for an older file? The official CurseForge project page is in Resources.