Ushi No Tane - Harvest Moon

is there any way to avoid the glitches?
how many are there/what are they?
where in the game would they be?
IS THE GAME EVEN PLAYABLE?
HELP!

I does help a lot if you avoid the petting game. If you approach your livestock with a brush or the stethoscope it won't activate when the hand if above an animal's head.

If you try to pick up a chicken without the stehoscope you will enter the petting game automatically.

If you do have the petting game and finish the day successfully, turn your unit off after saving. I turn my unit off and except for occassionally lagging, I rarely have a problem anymore.

These are the things Natsume suggested:
Stop doing the petting game
Don't take your cart into the mountain
Turn off the wifi and 3D
Save daily
Power off system every few days

What worked for me:
2nd 3DS lol

The reason this worked for me is that my daughter used mine all the time to watch Nintendo Video and browse the store. Seemed like as soon as I got her her own, I stopped freezing. Which leads me to believe that the memory leak Natsume claims causes the leak is tied to the system's use. Meaning, I think the game utilizes the systems memory and if you're using it for other things than you should power it down before you start your game.

I do exactly as Veggie, no petting mini-game. It's been almost 4 in-game years without a single freeze. I use wi-fi on and full 3D, if that matters. Ah, and my cart never left the farm, unless moving farms counts