Of all the districts of the Ukraine, the relatively smallest stock of cattle is found in Galicia, for here there are only 723 head of cattle (116 horses, 372 horned cattle, 60 sheep, 172 hogs) for each 1000 inhabitants. The proportions are greater in the Russian Ukraine. For every 100 of the population Volhynia has 19 horses, 32 steers, 18 sheep, 17 hogs. The corresponding numbers for Podolia are 16, 19, 17, 11; for Kiev 13, 18, 17, 10; for Kherson 29, 24, 16, 11; for Chernihiv 21, 25, 33, 16; for Poltava 14, 22, 27, 11; for Kharkiv 17, 27, 23, 10; for Katerinoslav 25, 26, 21, 12; for Tauria 30, 28, 61, 11; for Kuban 34, 54, 80, 21.
We shall begin our survey of the cattle industry with a consideration of horse-raising. The Ukrainian breed of horses is widely distributed thruout the entire Dnieper region, its Chornomoric variety in the Kuban region, its Don variety in the eastern border districts of the Ukraine. By far the greater number of the Ukraine horses, however, are a mixed breed, of small stature, and, despite great powers of endurance, not particularly strong. Of the different breeds of small horses, only the Hutzulian mountain-breed are important, because of their fine qualities. The remaining millions of small horses rather mark the low grade of horse-breeding than real value for the population, which, in proportion to its economic resources, keeps entirely too many horses. Very little is being done to raise the standards of horse-raising in the Ukraine. Breeding-studs [[273]]are kept up by the large landowners only for the breeding of race-horses, while nothing at all is done for the breeding of work-horses. Only in Voroniz a breed of strong draught-horses is produced (bitiuhi), and a little is accomplished also by the breeding-studs of Novo-Alexandrivsk (Kharkiv region) and in Yaniv (in the Kholm country). In the Austrian Ukraine the war-department takes care of the breeding of the Hutzulian breed of horses with great success.
Horned cattle are of much greater importance to the Ukrainian people than horses, and the breed is relatively much better. Thanks to the general distribution of the native gray breed, the addition of the red Kalmuck breed of cattle in Eastern Ukraine, and the frequent crossing with Western European breeds accomplished thru the agency of the large landowners, the governments and the agricultural organizations, cattle-breeding in the Ukraine appears much more advanced than horse-breeding. On the other hand, dairying in the Ukraine is barely in its beginnings. Only in Galicia has a dairymen’s organization been formed by the Ukrainian peasants, which produce ¼ million kilograms of butter a year.
Sheep-raising in the Ukraine decreased considerably within the last decades of the 19th Century, as a result of Australian competition. Formerly, the Southern Ukraine was one of the most important wool producing regions of the world. The decline of the sheep-raising industry has been accelerated a great deal by the transformation of the steppes into farmland. The immense flocks of sheep which roamed the Ukrainian steppes under the care of semi-nomadic shepherds are a thing of the past. Nevertheless, about 10 million sheep can still be found in the Ukraine. The greatest part of them is raised in the Don region, the Kuban region, Tauria, Katerinoslav and Bessarabia. Just as in the other branches of live-stock-breeding, [[274]]so also in the matter of sheep-raising, the most important part is performed by the peasant. The peasants breed chiefly coarse-wooled sheep of various breeds. These sheep can graze three-fourths of the year out in the steppes. The large landowners raise far less sheep, but these belong to the fine-wooled Merino breed, the raising of which is more expensive, but also more profitable. In very recent years the peasants have at last begun to engage in breeding the fine-wooled varieties. Sheep-raising is very important in the districts of Chernihiv, Poltava and Kharkiv, where, in the year 1900, there were 3½ million sheep (3 million of which belonged to peasants). Here the greatly renowned Reshetilov breed of sheep is raised. The remaining districts of the Ukraine carry on very little sheep-raising. Only in the Carpathians is it an important branch of industry of the population. Here the coarse-wooled mountain-sheep graze in the mountain pastures, and bring almost greater profit thru their dairy products and skins than thru their wool.
Goats are found very rarely in the Ukraine, almost exclusively in the Carpathian, Yaila and Caucasus Mountains. Hog-raising, however, is perhaps the most important source of income of the poorer Ukrainian peasantry, and as such it is common everywhere in the Ukraine, most of all in Chernihiv, Volhynia and Kuban. Besides sty-breeding, extensive breeding is carried on in some districts. On the lower Dnieper and Dniester large droves of swine remain in the plavni all summer and fall. Improved breeds of English hogs (Yorkshire, Berkshire, etc.) are not common in the Ukraine and easily degenerate, while the most common breeds, the Russian, the Polish and the southern curly-haired variety, are very hard to fatten.
Camels are kept only in the southeastern steppes of the Ukraine (Tauria, Don region, Stavropol), buffaloes only in Bessarabia, asses and mules in Bessarabia and Tauria. [[275]]
Having reached the end of our survey of cattle-raising in the Ukraine, we must turn to poultry-raising, which constitutes one of the most important sources of the money income of the peasantry. In view of the truly Spartan mode of life of our peasants, very little poultry is consumed by the breeder himself, most of it being sold to the dealers or in the cities. The balance of the production over the local consumption is so great that the entire Ukraine has become an exporting region for poultry, eggs and feathers to the other districts of Russia, to Western Austria, Germany, England, etc. From the nine governments of the Ukraine, in 1905, over 600,000 q. of eggs were exported, 90% of which went over the border. These Ukrainian governments yielded 40% of the total Russian exportation of eggs, Kharkiv alone giving 8%, Kiev 5%. If we consider the remaining Ukrainian districts of Russia, we can say, without fear of error, that all the Russian territory together that is inhabited by Ukrainians produces more than half the Russian output of eggs and poultry. Podolia alone, in 1908, sold nearly 3½ million fowl, Kharkiv (1906) 1¼ million. Galicia, about the year 1903, exported annually eggs to the value of 35 million crowns[1], feathers to the value of 3 million, and poultry to the value of 1½ million, of which, at least, two-thirds must be credited to the Ukrainian part of the land.
Every farmer in the Ukraine raises live-stock. The percentage of exclusive breeders of live-stock is very small; in the Russian Ukraine, in 1897, it was hardly 0.4%.