Farm Animals

We have a client who owns a non-profit farm. When they purchase animals for their farm, what would be the class life of wildlife animals? Any advise is welcome. Thank you in advance for your help.

If you are talking about some type of petting zoo or farm for show, I would look to how zoos treat their animals. Here is a footnote disclosure from the San Diego zoo.

In accordance with customary practice among zoological organizations, animal and horticultural
collections are recorded at the nominal amount of one dollar, as there is no objective basis for
establishing value. Additionally, animal and horticultural collections have numerous attributes,
including species, age, sex, relationship and value to other animals, endangered status, and
breeding potential, whereby it is impracticable to assign value. Expenditures related to animal
and horticultural acquisitions are expensed in the period of acquisition.


If you are talking about a working farm, with dairy cows, goats, sheep, etc then they do have class lives in the depreciation tables. Dairy cows and breeding livestock is 5 years, race horses might be 3 years. working horses 7 years.

Count the legs and divide by 4....

Count the legs and divide by 4.... Cute.

Reminds me of an experience I had as a new staff man on an audit of a large chicken or egg supplier. My assignment was to go to this farm and count the number of chickens in this huge chicken barn or house or pen or whatever it was called. (Is it obvious that I am a city boy?) The farmer was required to keep a form updated each day at the barn entrance - number of chickens at beginning of day, number added, number died, number removed, balance end of day. The numbers were in the range of 10,000+ in the one barn I remember. The farmer was just coming back from a hunting trip, three sheets to the wind, shotgun slung loosely over his shoulder. I don't think he even knew I was coming that day.

When I told him what I wanted to do, he showed me the form and took me in. The chickens were moving all around, non-stop. I told him I ca't count them while they move. He asked if I want them to stop moving. Yes, said I. He clapped his hands together loudly, they stood perfectly still for about 2 seconds, and I said thanks, looks like about 10,000 to me.

I was also supposed to report on whether there was a trichomoniasis problem in his chickens, so I asked him how I could tell. He said I must be talking about "turkeyosis", and his chickens did not have it. The way to tell is that if I saw any chickens that were dead and on their backs with their legs straight up, there was a problem. I didn't, so there wasn't.

After that, I was transferred to the tax department.

lol Nilodop.

I just saw Len's post. It doesn't quite line up with the horrors of factory farming (and the associated taxpayer paranoia) my friends saw while working for the Big 4. I have one slaughterhouse client and I am thankful I've never been there.

The farm holds exotic animals and they use the facility to educate people about them.