Ideas
After my first cow died, I purchased another but it never appeared. I attempted to "assign to barn", but the option was greyed out and I was unable to. I purchased two more cows with the same results. They are placed in my HOUSEHOLD inventory. If I try to place the cows from household inventory onto the lot, it gives me the error that they must be places on a specific surfaces. I attempted to wait it out, hoping they'd run away. I keep getting popups that they will or have, but they're still in my inventory. Meanwhile, the barn still gets dirty but the hay never decreases.
I tried using "testingcheats" to reset/debug the barn: doesn't fix.
I tried using "moveobjects" to place the cows or delete them: doesn't fix.
I tried purchasing a new barn: doesn't fix.
I tried closing the game, restarting the EA launcher, and "repaired" the game: doesn't fix.
To be clear - I never took the cow (now deceased or newly purchased) to the fair. The original died of old age, and the replacement is stuck in the household inventory.
This is the second save file that this issue has occurred for me. I play on PC.
Hopefully this issue can be fixed soon since this is one of my legacy challenge saves. :'(