Dynamics of Livestock Production in Molotov Region in 1946–1950

This article examines the problems of the development of one of the most important branches of agriculture, i. e. livestock breeding, within the borders of Molotov Region (now the territory of Perm Krai) in the first postwar years. The research draws upon the materials of the USSR Central Statistical Office stored in the Russian State Archive of Economics. This allows the authors to study the resource base of the industry, including the number of livestock of its main types, show the activities of party and Soviet bodies to restore the industry in the first postwar years, characterise measures taken to strengthen various ways of encouraging workers, trace the development of animal husbandry as a branch of the economy and the dynamics of the main types of its products in the study area for all categories of public and individual sector farms. The data presented by authors demonstrate that collective farm livestock farming turned out to be much more effective in the postwar crisis than livestock farming on state farms. The authors emphasise that individual farms of the population played a decisive role in stabilising the livestock sector of the region in the post-war five-year period. In general, the dynamics of livestock farming in Molotov Region were characterised by ambiguity and inconsistency. However, it can be concluded that the region’s livestock farming, despite all the difficulties it faced in the aftermath of the destructive Second World War, definitely stepped forward, exceeding the prewar level of meat, milk and wool production in 1950.