12 BULLETIN 560, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the remaining 78 per cent was $13.30 per head. At this rate the 

 appreciation of 1 horse would offset the depreciation of more than 4 

 other horses. Thus the appreciation of 1 horse out of every 4.55 

 resulted in an average net appreciation of $2.10 per head for the total 

 number of horses. While no deaths occurred in this group, 2 horses 

 were severely injured, entailing a loss of $175. 



On the Ohio farms there was an average of one colt for every 10 

 work horses kept. This was about two-thirds less than on the Illinois 

 farms, and yet the depreciation of horses was $5.56 per head less than 

 in Illinois. By this it will be seen that the net appreciation of horses 

 in Ohio was not so much due to the raising of young horses as in 

 Illinois. A study of the data shows that the reason for this was 

 that on some farms a practice was made of buying young horses, 

 and, after working them for a time, selling them at an increase in 

 value. During the years this study was made 9 horses were bought 

 and 17 were sold, 8 of the 17 having been on the farms at the time 

 this work was begun. The horses bought and sold were mostly 

 young draft stock, which accounts for the high appreciation of $56.90 

 per horse. In following this practice, at times more horses were 

 kept than were needed to do the farm work. Other data in this 

 bulletin show that the average horse worked less hours per year 

 on the Ohio farms than on the Illinois or New York farms. 



On the New York farms the relative number of horses that appre- 

 ciated in value was a great deal less than in each of the other States — 

 less than 5 per cent — at the rate of $44.40 per head. The deprecia- 

 tion per head of the remaining 95 per cent was $14.48. At this rate, 

 the appreciation of one horse would a little more than offset the de- 

 preciation of three other horses. Thus, the average net depreciation 

 was $11.56 for all horses. One reason for this depreciation being 

 higher than in the other two States was a loss of $505 due to the 

 death of 6 horses, or about 1 out of every 15. Thus, more than 48J 

 per cent of the total depreciation was due to deaths. The number 

 of colts on these farms was less than in Illinois. For every work 

 horse sold two were bought. It seems that these farmers have but 

 recently started to replace the old horses by raising colts. 



PROFIT AND LOSS ON COLT ACCOUNT. 



In determining these items of loss or credit, young stock were con- 

 sidered as colts from the time they were bom until they were broken 

 to work. The cost of keeping the colts on each farm was found by 

 the same method followed in arriving at the cost of keeping work 

 horses. This account was credited with the value of manure pro- 

 duced by the colts and their appreciation in value. It was found 

 that colts usually showed a good profit during the first and second 

 years, and under favorable conditions broke about even for the third 



