Animal husbandry statistics in Siberia in the 1920s

The purpose of research is to solve two interrelated tasks, covering the reconstruction of the system of state statistical monitoring of livestock and the construction of time series of livestock development. The object of research is the agriculture of Siberia. The subject of the analysis is the organization and results of statistical monitoring of one of the main branches of agriculture - animal husbandry. The main tools for analyzing the subject of research are special historical methods: historical-genetic and historical-dynamic, which make it possible to implement the principle of historicism. Based on the results of the analysis, it was concluded that the accounting of livestock in the USSR in the 1920s carried out within the framework of annual sample complex agricultural censuses. The main method of census was a personal survey of householders. The organization and conduct of censuses were entrusted to statistical departments and departments, whose leading specialists had pre-revolutionary experience in statistical work and used the developments of Zemstvo statistics. Peasants downplayed the size of their farms in order to reduce the burden of taxation. In this regard, corrections were made to the all-Union statistical collections for underestimation. The heads of the statistical bodies of the Siberian Region ignored the facts of underestimation of livestock and did not make any amendments to the regional collections. Published statistical materials make it possible to form 4 series of dynamics of the livestock population in Siberia in the 1920s, which make it possible to determine the main trends in the development of animal husbandry in the region. In the first decade there was a sharp reset of the herd. The restoration of the industry began in 1923. The number of small livestock was restored most rapidly. The number of cattle grew more slowly. It was not possible to reach the preevolutionary number of horses. In 1929, the peasants began to reduce the number of working and productive livestock.