Many livestock die or suffer from diseases that are easily treatable with the proper resources. Though Kazakh agriculture was fully mechanized, parts for machinery are difficult to find. One Kazakh sheep farmer had a square hay baler sitting idle because he could not get baling twine to operate it. While state and collective farms employed many of the latest technologies, private farmers often lack the technical know-how to produce sheep efficiently and profitably. There is no Cooperative Extension Service or other means of transferring technology from research institutions to farms.
Research is viewed as purely theoretical.
University professors have long been criticized for doing predominantly basic research and lacking practical knowledge of farming. State farms had their own veterinarians and livestock specialists, but these trained professionals have been slow to respond to the needs of the growing private sector. There are no publications, such as this one, available to farmers to inform them about the latest technology or tell them what the price of wool is. On state and collective farms, farm workers were trained to be specialists. When I asked one sheep specialist if the soil was deficient in selenium he replied that he didn't know because he was a sheep specialist, not an agronomist.