[Development of specialized cooperative animal production units of the agro-industrial type in the USSR].

The development of Soviet agriculture, especially the animal production, is outlined. It proceeded from the formation of socialist large farms with a versatile production profile--mostly comprising all kinds of animals--towards establishing specialized departments (farms) in these cooperatives and, in recent years, towards the development of large production units with a specialized production profile on an industrialized basis (animal farming complexes). Specific probelms of the transition towards specialized production of and with cattle in large units are discussed. The formation of cattle-fatening enterprises is outlined on the basis of experiences gained in the Southern part of the European part of the RSFSR in the Krasnodar region since that middle of the 1960s. The effectiveness of beef production in this new type of enterprise lies well beyond the results reached in the traditional collective and state farms, although it has not yet reached the target set of the state animal production complexes. The cooperative cattle fattening farms can be considered part of future agro-industrial complexes and can actually become part of these.