The official report of the Russian central statistical office for 1963 gives details of the number of livestock on Soviet farms. It states that because of the shortage of fodder (due to the bad weather) an unusual number of animals were slaughtered towards the ond of the year. Just how unusual is shown by the figures given: January 1. numbers of animals in millions Cows Pigs Sheep & Goats 1962 36.3 667 140.5 1963 3729 6969 146. 3 1964 38.2 40.7 139.2
“hilst the number of cows odgod up slightly, tho number of pigs declined by noarly 30 million or 40%, Most of the decline took place on the state and colloctive farms, Those had 53,8 million pigs at the beginning of 1963 and this was down to 27.6 million by January lst this year. This will undoubtedly lead to difficulties later in the year, That this kind of thing should take place alongside the tremendous tochnic advances of the Soviet Union in other fiolds is romarkable. It can only oxplained in terms of the gross under-capitalisation of Soviet agriculture over a period of decades,