Cows, pigs, and sheep continue to gradually decline across Ukraine.

Cows, pigs, and sheep continue to gradually decline across Ukraine. Through August, cows are down 4.4% to 3.7 million – the same rate of decline registered in 2018, reports the State Statistics Service. Pigs are down 1.5%, to 6.4 million. Sheep and goats are down 3.2%, to 1.5 million. These rates of decline are close to last year’s. African swine fever has decimated pig populations, raising costs for commercial piggeries. For cows, the growth of commercial dairies has not compensated for the dwindling number of cows kept by households. In contrast, chickens largely raised in industrial farms increased by 2.9%, to 258 million.