302 



Import of Live Stock into Russia, [august, 



His Majesty's Consul General at Odessa (Mr. C. S. Smith) 

 in his report to the Foreign Office (Annual Series, No. 3653) 

 for 1906, observes that in South Russia 

 Import of Live Stock cattle are largely used for draught 

 into Russia. purposes, dairy farming being mostly 

 confined to the Northern provinces. 

 English cattle, chiefly shorthorns, have hitherto been imported 

 on a considerable scale to improve the breed. During 1906, 

 however, various causes contributed to check this import, 

 among which were the unsettled state of the country and the 

 demand for long credit. 



The recently increased demand for British shorthorn breeding 

 stock in Chile and the Argentine, and the readiness shown by 

 farmers in those countries to pay prices far beyond the present 

 means of many Russian importers have also tended to stop 

 the import of British-bred shorthorns into Russia. Indeed, 

 the prices for British-bred shorthorns have doubled during the 

 past eighteen months. A quantity of German-bred short- 

 horns of British extraction are, however, imported. German 

 farmers import British shorthorns into Germany, breed them, 

 and send the resulting stock into Russia at far cheaper prices 

 than those asked by British breeders. 



It is stated that the cost of transporting a bull in the United 

 Kingdom from the stock farm to the coast is frequently as 

 great as that of sending the same bull from Riga (to which 

 most British cattle are shipped) to Odessa — a journey of twelve 

 to eighteen days. This considerably impedes the import of 

 British cattle. 



British bulls, though highly suitable for breeding, often 

 cannot stand the rough pasturage and treatment which they 

 find in Russia. At the same time the half breeds are in every 

 way a great improvement on native stock. 



Attempts to persuade farmers to improve their stock are 

 made from time to time by the Russian Government, which 

 two years ago bought sixty British bulls, imported them into 

 Rostov, and sold them at half-price to local farmers with a 

 view to encouraging further purchase. But the example has 

 not been much followed. 



It seems that a more settled condition is needed for the 

 further development of the import trade in British cattle ; 



