Animal hus bandry in the Chelyabinsk region in 1954–1964: livestock composition, products

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of livestock and the production of livestock products in the Chelyabinsk region during a dynamic period in the history of the USSR (1954–1964). The novelty of the study is in the wide use of materials from the collections of one of the largest federal archives – the Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE). Most of these materials have not been studied before. At the beginning of the period, the livestock sector of agriculture in the Chelyabinsk region was in deep crisis. In the 1950s, a number of resolutions were issued by the union authorities which had a positive impact on the development of animal husbandry. However, in the agrarian policy of the party and the government and the tendency to limit indi vidual farms began to manifest itself more and more clearly. The contribution of various catego ries of farms to the production of livestock products is determined, and as a result of the state’s implementation of its agrarian policy, Soviet farms became its main supplier from the late 1950s. In general, from 1954 to 1964, individual farms in the Chelyabinsk region played a significant role in the production of livestock products, however, during the period under investigation their position waned, being unable to compete with the public sector. The authors conclude that the livestock industry of the Chelyabinsk region, despite a number of objective and subjective obsta cles, made a significant step forward in its development.