Animal Husbandry Orenburg Regions in 1954–1964: Number, Stock Composition, Products

Based on the materials of two major federal archives — the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) and the Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE), as well as one regional archive, the dynamics of production of the main types of livestock products in the Orenburg region during the reign of N.S. Khrushchev (1954–1964) is studied. The analysis of meat, milk, wool production is carried out and eggs, both in terms of gross livestock production in the region, and separately by state farms, collective farms, farms of collective farmers, workers and employees in kind and monetary terms. The authors concluded that the ambiguous dynamics of livestock production had its reasons, one of which was the testing of nuclear weapons at the Totsky test site in September 1954, and the other was the contradictory actions of the authorities in the late 1950s — early 1960s. It is shown that throughout the studied period, the individual sector in animal husbandry demonstrated stable negative dynamics for all major types of livestock products with the exception of wool. This process was the result, first of all, of the strengthening of collective farm and state farm production, as well as state policy aimed at the full infringement of citizens' farms. It is concluded that in the period under study, the livestock industry of the Orenburg region made a noticeable step forward in its development.