The paper presents analytical materials of the current state of dairy cattle breeding in the Russian Federation. It was established that the number of cows is declined and gross milk production doesn’t grow. Moreover, a stable increase in the productivity of cows did not compensate for losses of gross milk production due to the decrease in the number of cows. In conditions of inadequate financial capacity of agricultural producers and the state, the stabilization of cows’ population at the level of 2016 and the increase in gross milk production due to the acceleration of their productivity growth rates are the most optimal and economically justified direction of technological development of dairy cattle breeding. Only a comprehensive solution to organizational, economic and financial problems will improve the investment attractiveness of dairy cattle breeding in the Russian Federation and significantly increase its economic efficiency and competitiveness in all management methods.