It seemed like I could start shooting demons before they could hurt me, so by spamming the spacebar when the screen faded out I could open up a pocket, circle around to round them up and then defeat all the demons without much issue.
By day 14 I had stopped sacrificing animals. I played up to day 26 before calling it quits, but I think I could have kept going for a while.
Maybe Farmer Seth would be better off giving up on farming and seek new opportunities as a professional demon hunter instead. :P