Review Article

Beef cattle breeding in Ukraine

Renata Pilarczyk, Stakh Vovk, Barna Kruzhel

¹West Pomeranian University of Technology, Szczecin, Poland

²Institute of Agriculture in the Carpathian Region, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Ukraine

³Lviv National Agrarian University, Lviv Dublyany, Ukraine

1. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 14(2), 2015, 3‒22

Abstract. The most of Ukrainian cattle is obtained through fattening the calves deriving from the dairy cows. During the last two decades, due to the reduction in local cattle population, the beef production has drastically decreased and most of the meat comes from the import. The problem of low beef production can be solved only through developing the beef cattle farming and creating the new beef breeds. The first four national Ukrainian breeds (Ukrainian Beef, Volyn Meat, Poliska Beef and Southern) and one Znamenski type of Poliska Beef were created as well as development of Ukrainian Beef Simmental is at the final stage. The largest populations of beef cattle in Ukraine in January 2012 were the Aberdeen Angus (30%) and Volyn Meat (28%) and then Poliska Beef (16%) and Simmental (9%). The largest populations of beef cattle are located in the following districts: Volyn (26%), Czernihow (11%), Rivne (10%), Lviv (8%), Khmelnytskyi and Zhytomyr (7%).

Keywords: Ukraine, beef cattle, livestock, breeds