The Live-Stock Industry
South of the black earth agricultural zone comes the dry steppe, which stretches uninterruptedly from Siberia southwards across Russian Central Asia to the mountains of Turkestan. A large area of this southern zone of Western Siberia is inhabited by Kirghiz Tartars and a few scattered colonies of Siberian peasants. The chief products of this district are wool, hides, cattle and horses, for live stock forms the principal wealth of the inhabitants. The commercial centres for the products of this district are at Petropavlovsk and Omsk, which are situated at the points where the Siberian railway crosses the rivers Ishim and Irtish respectively. Meat is now being exported to European Russia from Petropavlovsk at the rate of 30,000 tons a year, but the lack of cold storage prevents export to Western Europe and England. Some firms are, however, establishing cold-storage plants along the railway, and this is the most necessary step to take before the industry can develop.
The live-stock trade has, of course, been greatly influenced by the growth of the dairy industry, and in recent years the value of live stock has greatly increased. Cattle formerly worth 10 roubles each. (£1, 1s.) can now command from 20 to 40 roubles (£2 to £4, 10s.) for dairy herds. This naturally affects the value of the second quality cattle which are used for meat. The price of meat in Siberian towns is rarely more than fourpence to fivepence per pound, and in the villages is cheaper still. In view, therefore, of the low price of meat and its poor quality, it
