The Russian agricultural sector in general, and animal husbandry in particular, have made impressive progress in their development in the 21st century. At the same time, by now a number of problems have emerged, without solving which further successful and balanced development of the industry using all the available huge potential is not possible. At the same time the US livestock industry has been an example of progressive and fairly dynamic development for several decades, based on a set of conditions and incentive measures, including: excellent feed base, introduction of the latest achievements of scientific progress, stimulation of exports, etc. All this in combination with a fairly high level of purchasing power of the average citizen of the country is the key to successful development in the near future perspective. Because of this, the identification based on a comparative analysis of livestock production in Russia and the United States, as well as a critical study of its results, can contribute to a better understanding of the growth reserves of the domestic agro-industrial complex. To solve this problem, this paper attempts such an analysis based on the study of the dynamics of time series of the main indicators of livestock production in combination with the quantitative method of time series analysis and factor analysis.