What is the typical farm animal's lifespan?

Solution 1:

According to this post, it doesn't seem like the mode you play on would affect this. There are some generalizations on animals' lifespans, however:

It can vary quite a bit, depending on how you treat them. Generally speaking:

All of the larger livestock should live a minimum of 5 to 6 years. If their affection is high, they should live a year or two beyond that.

Sheep don’t live quite as long as the other large livestock.

Angora rabbits and all chickens will probably live for just 4 to 5 years.

Another useful tip this person added:

If you wake up to find an animal died and you saved the game before going to bed, you can reload and the animal may not die. This is really useful because you may have one or two animals who make a random attempt to die off earlier than they should. (It’s happened to me, especially with one certain sheep.)