My farm animals keep despawning

I recently made a farm with all the mobs I need (Cows chickens pigs and sheep) but every single time I save and quit more and more of my animals disappear in be tried every thing. The pens are less than 22x22 I breed them so that they’ve been interacted with before I get off I’ve even tried leaving the game standing in the pens just in case they were despawning because my house was too far from the pens when I spawned in AND NOTHING WORKS!!! I’m super irritated with every log off my animals numbers are cut half in size. What’s causing this problem? I’m officially over it.