🇧🇾 The cattle breeds of Belarus

Belarus keeps cattle on a large, state-backed scale. About 1.4 million cows supply the country's biggest farm product, milk, and dairy goods travel out as a leading export beside beef. Herds sit mostly with big farm organisations, with a small, steady share on family household plots.

• 1.4 million cows produced about 7.8 million tonnes of milk in 2023
• Milk products earned $263 million in export sales
• Large farm organisations hold 89.8% of land and make 78.2% of output
• Brest and Grodno regions together produce 40.7% of farm output value
• Household plots kept 11–16% of the cattle herd from 1980 to 2005

Cattle in Belarus

Cattle stand at the centre of Belarusian farming. Livestock and crops each yield about half of the country's agricultural output, and within the livestock half milk is the largest single item. The national herd counts around 1.4 million cows. Farming is run mainly by large agricultural organisations with heavy state backing, and cattle keeping follows that pattern: families keep only a small slice of the herd on household plots around their homes, a share that has barely shifted in decades. Milk leads the produce list, with beef and dairy goods among the chief farm exports. Land reform moved slowly here compared with other post-Soviet states, and farmland remains state owned.

Regions and communities

The west leads. The regions of Brest and Grodno together generate about 41 percent of farm output value, helped by soil that is more fertile on average. The Minsk region adds a further 26 percent. Rural populations keep shrinking as people move to towns, and farm work has fallen from a fifth of all jobs in the early 1990s to under seven percent today.

Milk, butter and beef

Milk is the headline product. In 2023 about 1.4 million cows produced roughly 7.8 million tonnes, and goods made from it brought in 263 million dollars from abroad. Milk alone accounts for about a third of livestock output, and livestock, at 53 percent, edges out crops. Beef ranks among the chief farm exports too, alongside poultry and rapeseed.

Today

Belarus is self-sufficient in its main foods except fruit. Five-year farm programmes have run since 1995 to secure food supply and export income, and subsidies have been heavy, at times a fifth to a third of output. Farming's share of jobs and of the economy keeps sliding as the countryside empties, yet milk and beef remain pillars of export trade.