There are six basic animals in the game. You need to take special care of each of them. Almost all of the animals will be eligible for contests. Each individual animals has a heart meter (except for fish). At the end of the game, a perfect score would be:
100+ Fish
10 Cows
10 Sheep
10 Chickens
1 Dog
1 Horse

All the animals should have ten hearts.

Before you purchase any animals you should make sure to have some of their necessaties:
. Feed or Fodder
. Grass
. Brush

Make sure to take care of your animals.
. Feed them daily
. Keep them out of the rain
. Keep them out of the snow
. Keep them out of the hurricanes

Make sure to give your animals medicine if they do get sick. It's not good to let your animals die. It could lower your percentage score, and possibly make the previous owners of the animals angry (i.e. Rick/Barley).