10 BULLETIN 560, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
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and $4.56, respectively, in these States. It is true that on many 
farms in each State the cost of shoeing individual horses was much 
greater than the above averages. The fact that on some farms little 
shoeing was done throughout the year, and on other farms practi- 
cally the only horses shod were one team for the winter months, 
would tend to cause a low average cost per horse for each State, 
group. 
DEPRECIATION AND APPRECIATION. 
In determining depreciation and appreciation in value of horses 
a yearly inventory value was placed on each horse on the farm by 
careful appraisal and a record was kept of each horse bought or sold. 
In Illinois 11 of the 18 yearly farm records showed a net depreciation 
of horses. In Ohio 7 of the 16 yearly records showed a net depre- 
ciation, and in New York 16 of the 18 yearly records showed a net 
depreciation. 
The average net depreciation of the 316 horses was $4.50 per horse.! 
Of this amount $2.70 per horse was due to the death of 9 horses, valued 
at $855. Depreciation varied from $11.60 per horse in New York to 
an appreciation of $2.10 per horse in Ohio. 
Table 8 shows the percentage of horses that appreciated in value, 
the percentage that did not, and the factors influencing the aggregate 
depreciation or appreciation, by States. 
1 Bulletin 341 of this department shows that the average annual depreciation of horses on 378 farms studied 
in Chester County, Pa., is $7 per head, and on 300 farms studied in Lenawee County, Mich., $7.10 per head. 
These figures are largely determined by the practice of farmers in disposing of horses while they are still 
salable at a fairly satisfactory price, and would undoubtedly be much greater if all farm horses were kept 
until their usefulness was at an end. 
Cornell University (N. Y.) bulletin 377 shows that the average annual depreciation of horses on 14 New 
York farms for the year 1912, andon 31 New York farms for 1913, was $14.03 and $12.10 per horse unit, 
respectively. Of the 45 farms studied, 12 showed an appreciation of horses. 
Minnesota extension bulletin 15, covering a period of four years, 1904 to 1907, inclusive, gives figures for 
farms studied in three different counties. In Rice County depreciation varied from $0.98 in 1905 to $15.48 in 
1904, averaging for the four years $5.56 per head. In Lyon County depreciation varied from $4.20 in 1905 
to $9.86 in 1904, averaging per year $6.94 per head. In Norman County depreciation varied from $2.60 in 
1907 to $7.37 in 1904, averaging per year $5.82 per head. 
It is pointed out in the text that depreciation of the horse is an expensive item to farmers who are not 
able to control this expense by means of clever selling methods and by the use of young horses. Shrewd 
selling, however, does not affect the general principal of depreciation, since thus the loss is passed on to the 
buyer. 
Minnesota experiment station bulletin 145 gives results of a further study of horse depreciation in the 
above-mentioned counties. Records for Rice County for the period 1908 to 1912, inclusive, shows a varia- 
tion in depreciation from $0.28 in 1910 to $5.10 in 1909, and an average per year of $3.05 per head. In Lyon 
County the study covers a period of 3 years, 1908 to 1910, inclusive. The depreciation varied from $1.47 in 
1910 to $5.60 in 1909, averaging per year $3.06 per head. In Norman County the work covered a period of 4 
years, 1908 to 191], inclusive. The depreciation varied from $0.51 in 1910 to $3.42 in 1911, averaging per year 
$1.48 per head. It is pointed out in this bulletin that the annual depreciation as shown above is not high 
enough to represent a proper average charge through a long term of years. Abnormal conditions in the 
Minnesota horse market were largely responsible for the low depreciation charge. 
