In the first two months of 2019, the total number of cattle in Ukraine decreased to 3.5 million heads.
In the last days of February, the number of livestock was 3.3% less than in the same period in 2018, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine reports. Industrial producers showed a decrease in livestock by the same percentage to 1.1 million heads.
In private households, the population of cows has decreased by 2.5%. At this time, 2.4 million cattle are raised in these farms. The growth of industrial livestock production was observed in Ternopol (+ 6.2%), Zhytomyr (+ 1.6%), Volyn and Kherson (+ 0.7% each) regions.
An increase in the number of cattle raised on private farms occurred in Lugansk (+ 25.2%), Vinnitsa (+ 4.1%), Sumy (+ 2.3%), Khmelnitsky (+ 2.3%), Transcarpathian (+ 1.5%) and Zhytomyr (+ 1.3%) regions.
Representatives of the Association of Milk Producers noted that such high rates of increase in the number of cattle in the Luhansk region are not accidental. Guided by the Dairy Cattle Development Program, young animals were distributed free of charge to the population of this region.