Synopsis

Otis (Kevin James) is a carefree young cow who prefers playing with his friends rather than accept responsibility. His strict father Ben (Sam Elliott) is the leader of the barnyard. After Otis interrupts a barnyard meeting with his wild antics, Ben has a talk with his son, warning him that he will never be happy if he spends his life partying without acting more maturely. Otis ignores his advice and leaves to have fun with his friends Pip the Mouse (Jeff Garcia), Pig the Pig (Tino Insana), Freddy the Ferret (Cam Clarke), and Peck the Rooster (Rob Paulsen). That same day, Otis meets a pregnant cow named Daisy (Courtney Cox), who is accompanied by her friend, Bessy (Wanda Sykes). That night, the animals throw a party in the barn. All the animals at the barnyard are there except Ben, who guards the fence line. Otis is assigned a shift along with Ben, but Otis talks himself out of work. Before Otis leaves, Ben tells him that the night he found him as a baby calf stumbling alone in the meadow, he swore he saw the stars dance, thus giving him reason to know his place was at the farm. Later, Ben takes on a pack of coyotes led by Dag (David Koechner), plundering the chicken coop. He manages to fight off the pack until he is bitten on the leg by the red coyote, making him fall. The Coyotes pile on Ben, but he manages to grab Dag and escapes the pile. He threatens to punch Dag but lets him go, scaring away him and the coyotes. Ben falls on the ground, exhausted. Otis is alerted and he runs outside to his father. Ben dies and is buried on a hill by the farmer (Fred Tatasciore), and the other animals mourn Ben after the farmer leaves. After Ben's death, all the animals elect Otis as the new leader of the barnyard. Otis shirks his duties by leaving Freddy and Peck in charge of the coop, then helps the trouble-making Jersey Cows Eddy, Igg, and Bud (S. Scott Bullock, John DiMaggio, and Maurice LaMarche) teach a lesson to a mean fat youngster called Snotty Boy (Steve Oedekerk) for cow-tipping, eluding the police along the way. Later that night, when Otis is holding Daisy's hoof under the starlight, he overhears the coyotes chasing a rabbit and leaves Daisy to pursue the coyotes and avenge his father. Otis tries to attack Dag and his pack, but is outnumbered. Since Otis is weaker, Dag proposes a deal: he and his pack will take various barnyard animals at random times and that, if Otis tries to stand up to them, they will slaughter everyone at the barnyard. Otis decides to leave the barnyard, realizing that his chances of victory are slim. The next morning, before leaving, Otis is informed that the Coyotes took some hens including Maddy (Madeline Lovejoy), a little chick who is one of Otis' friends. Otis realizes that he has been fooled by Dag, as he was not expecting him and the coyotes until tonight, and sets off to rescue the chickens. Otis confronts the pack but is easily defeated after Dag bites him in the leg; however, Pip, Pig, Freddy, Peck, Miles (Danny Glover), Ben's old friend, and the Jersey Cows arrive to help Otis. Dag tries to attack Otis from behind, but Otis is alerted when Peck successfully manages to crow a warning. Otis catches Dag and warns him to never return to the barnyard. Otis then swings Dag out of the junkyard with a golf club, finally avenging his father's death. After hijacking a biker gang's motorcycles from the diner, Otis and the rest make it back to the barn to witness Daisy giving birth to a calf that she names Li'l Ben. Otis then takes full responsibility and becomes the new leader of the barnyard as he watches the stars of himself, Daisy and Lil' Ben dance just like Ben said. Mrs. Beady gets ready for bed, but she noticed that Wild Mike is on top of her head.