Ocarina of Time Remake Lon Lon Ranch: Malon, Milk and Epona

Lon Lon Ranch is the horse and dairy ranch in the middle of Hyrule Field, run by Talon and his daughter Malon. Its milk is famous across Hyrule, and the royal family drinks it too. This page covers Lon Lon Ranch in the Switch 2 remake of Ocarina of Time: how to get there, what to do as a child, how the ranch changes after seven years, what to do as an adult, and everything you can collect here. How to win Epona herself is on the Epona page.

How do you get to Lon Lon Ranch?

The ranch is in the middle of Hyrule Field, on a rise ringed by a wooden palisade. In the remake there is no loading screen: walk up to the entrance arch from the field and the area name appears as you pass through. The milk seller in Castle Town also tells you to go straight out of town to reach it.

On your first trip across the field, Talon and Malon are away delivering milk at Hyrule Castle, so there is little to do yet. Meet Malon on the castle road and wake Talon in the castle gardens during the Hyrule Castle chapter. Malon says they headed straight home after that, so come here next.

The layout is simple. Past the entrance arch is a yard with the ranch house, a brick stable and a cow barn. A fenced path leads on to a white arch into the paddock, the big grass field with the race track around it. A ruined stone tower stands at the edge of the paddock.

Show Lon Lon Ranch on the map

What should you do at Lon Lon Ranch as a child?

Do these in any order once Talon is home:

1. Play Talon’s Cucco game. Talon is in the ranch house, surrounded by Cuccos. He charges 10 rupees a round: he tosses three Super Cuccos in among his ordinary ones, and you have 30 seconds to pick up all three. He tells you how many are left after each right one. Win the first time and he gives you Lon Lon Milk in a bottle you keep, an empty bottle once you drink it. Bring the empty bottle back and he sells you another serving for 30 rupees.
2. Learn Epona’s Song. Malon is in the paddock with a shy young horse named Epona. She sings to calm her and asks if you have an instrument. Play her melody back, then play it together, and you learn Epona’s Song. The foal comes trotting over, and the quest Malon’s Friend is added to the Threads of Time. Epona is too small to ride yet; Malon promises you can ride her when she grows up. The notes are on the ocarina songs page.
3. Get the Piece of Heart. Follow the fence to the ruined tower with the red door. Inside is a storeroom stacked with crates. Pull some and push others to open a path, crawl through the low passage at the far end, and pick up the Piece of Heart in the round stone room.
4. Collect the Gold Skulltulas. Roll into the tree in the small yard behind the ranch house. The other two only come out at night and need the Boomerang, so leave them for a later visit (see the table below).

Ingo, the ranch hand, works in the barn as a child. He grumbles that someone like him has to raise horses on a shabby little ranch.

How does Lon Lon Ranch change after seven years?

When Link comes back as an adult, the area name reads Ingo Ranch. Ingo threw Talon out, took over the ranch and has been sending money to Ganondorf, hoping to become the boss of the whole area. Malon now works for him. In the stable she tells you that Ingo has taken out loan after loan, that he plans to sell the horses, and that Epona, the fastest horse on the ranch, is about to go because she will not listen to him. She half-jokingly wishes someone would whisk Epona away.

Talon has been staying in Kakariko Village ever since, asleep in one of the houses. If you wake him while Ingo still runs the ranch, he says he cannot go home until something is done about Ingo.

What should you do at Lon Lon Ranch as an adult?

• Win Epona. Ingo rents out rides for 20 rupees. Play Epona’s Song in the paddock to call her, race Ingo twice and win her, then jump out of the locked ranch. The whole sequence, with riding tips, is on the Epona page.
• Send Talon home. After you escape with Epona, hatch the Pocket Egg from the Cucco Lady in Kakariko Village and use the Pocket Cucco next to the sleeping Talon. When he hears you settled things at the ranch, he is relieved Malon is safe and runs home. This is also a step in the Biggoron Sword trade.
• Visit the ranch again. With Talon back, the area name is Lon Lon Ranch once more. Talon is in the barn, promising to work hard and cut his naps down to five a day. Ingo is out in the field, ashamed of himself, and has apologized to Malon.
• Beat Malon’s obstacle course. Malon is at the paddock gate. Ride Epona around the track twice, jumping the obstacles; she times you. The record is 40 seconds. Beat it and she says the present is too heavy to hand over, so she will send it to your house. Back in Kokiri Forest, a cow is waiting inside Link’s house. Play Epona’s Song next to it with an empty bottle for Lon Lon Milk.

Epona’s Song calls Epona to you in Hyrule Field and other open areas, which makes the Big Poe hunt and the long trips of the trade sequence much faster.

What can you collect at Lon Lon Ranch?

Full steps for each item are on the linked checklists.

What should you read next?

• Epona: Ingo’s two races and the escape from the ranch
• Hyrule Field and Castle Town: the roads around the ranch and the Castle Town shops
• Bottles: all five empty bottles
• Side quests and minigames: every minigame in the game
• Characters: Malon, Talon and Ingo