Animal husbandry of the Urals regions in the conditions of the great Patriotic war

This paper deals with the role of animal husbandry in the history of the Ural economic region as the most important economic base of Russia, especially during the great Patriotic war of 1941-1945. The study contains materials characterizing the situation in the industry in the prewar period, estimates the processes taking place in the main areas of animal husbandry in the transition from the sole of the peasant way of organizing production to industrial technologies in the late 30s of XX century. During the collectivization in the Urals, as throughout the country, the number of productive animals suffered heavy losses. Only the number of small cattle in 1928-1935 decreased from 9,1 million heads to 3 million heads, i.e. 3 times. Realizing the harmfulness of such a policy, the Soviet leadership took vigorous measures to correct the situation. They allowed to significantly correct the situation, but in general by the beginning of the great Patriotic war, the full transition to the new principles of work in agriculture hadn’t been carried out. When the war broke out the role of animal husbandry in the Urals in the USSR increased. At the beginning of 1941 the farms of the region contained from 5,1 to 8,3% of the population of the main agricultural animals of the country, then during the most difficult years of 1942-1943 this figure increased to 10,8 and even 18,6% of the total productive herd of the USSR. During this period, the livestock of the region gave up to 15% of all dairy products of the country and 13-14% of meat. Thus, the workers of animal husbandry of the Urals in the most difficult conditions of war time were able to save the bulk of the livestock and provide the army and defense industry of the region with the necessary food and raw materials.