60 
BULLETIN 1480, U. 
S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
may be only 60 cents a bushel. From some points of view 70 cents 
per bushel properly represents the true value of the corn crop to the 
farmers, yet this figure may be too high to apply to the total corn 
crop in calculating the total value, by reason of the fact that the 
element of shrinkage is involved. In the case of products such as 
apples and potatoes shrinkage is a factor of even greater importance 
than with corn. 
In using a weighted season price for calculating the total value of 
a crop there is the difficulty that the season price can not be fully 
determined until the end of the crop year and the further difficulty 
that a portion of a crop may be carried into a subsequent season. 
Thus, much corn of the 1920 crop was not sold until one or two years 
after it was harvested. This makes it very difficult to determine 
accurately the value of the crop harvested in any given season. 
INVENTORY VALUATION OF LIVESTOCK JANUARY 1 
The January 1 values or prices of livestock per head are used in 
calculating the total value of livestock on the farm on January 1 of 
each year. They apply to the value at a given date and are not used 
as a measure of value covering a period of time. About the only 
data which are at all comparable with January 1 values would be the 
1920 census values of livestock per head. Only the values of horses, 
mules, and sheep were obtained according to the same age and sex 
classification on both inquiries. A comparison of the values of these 
three kinds of livestock shows that the census values of horses and 
mules per head were generally lower and that the census values of 
sheep were generally higher than the January 1 values. 
Table 29. — Census and January 1 value per head of livestock, January, 1920 
1920 
Census 
value 
January 1 
value 
1920 
Census 
value 
January 1 
value 
Horses: 
Dollars 
35.58 
51.47 
97.00 
Dollars 
37.22 
58.81 
103. 52 
Sheep: 
Lambs. . ... ._ 
Dollars 
8.76 
21.05 
9.57 
21.05 
Dollars 
8.06 
1 to 2 years 
Ewes, 1 year and over 
Wethers, 1 year and over . 
Rams, 1 year and over 
21.63 
9.60 
21.63 
90. 15 
91.52 
11.29 
10.47 
Mules: 
62.38 
98.75 
153. 99 
60.16 
90.14 
160. 55 
Cattle, all 
54.79 
16.66 
55.68 
1 to 2 years __ 
Swine, all _ _ 
19. 08 
2 years and over 
Average, all 
143. 45 
148. 46 
The lower values of horses in the census would suggest that the 
values given by crop reporters reporting on the average price of horses 
in their localities are influenced upward by the prices prevailing 
for horses that are being sold and are not sufficiently weighted by 
the value of old worn-out horses for which there is no sale, but which 
would be included in the census values. In the States of surplus 
horse production where there is a smaller proportion of old horses, 
the two sources agree much more closely. The same general reason- 
ing applies to the value of mules per head. Practically all sheep and 
cattle, however, are salable, and sales of the various grades and ages 
are made frequently. The January 1 farm prices or values of sheep 
