February 9, 2012

Russia halts decreasing cattle number in 2011

For the first time in 20 years, the downward tendency in the number of cattle was stopped in 2011, Russian Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik said at a question-and-answer governmental session in the State Duma on Wednesday (Feb 8).

The minister dwelt in detail on the situation in the meat and dairy production, because most questions addressed to her from the deputies were put about this issue. "The cattle meat production on the live weight basis makes 2,900,000 tonnes, milk went up 1.8% for the past six years to reach 31,742,000 tonnes," she said.

"Meanwhile, the meat and dairy production is undergoing qualitative changes, which characterise a positive trend in the development of this issue," Skrynnik went on to say. "First, the downward tendency in the number of cattle was stopped in 2011 for the first time in 20 years," she noted. "Secondly, the share of the pedigree cattle is growing: from 41% in 2006 to 60% in 2011 in the beef cattle herd, from 6% to 11.3% in the dairy herd," she pointed out. "Thirdly, thanks to qualitative changes in the makeup of the cattle, the replacement of less productive breeds with more productive breeds, average milk yields increased by 20%, the marketability reached 61%," the minister quoted the statistical data as saying. "The share of special competitive meat breeds went up from 2% to 6.5% in the meat production," she remarked.

These tendencies "give solid grounds to build up the production of the highly qualitative beef and milk," Skrynnik said.