At the Eighth Party Congress in 1930 Choibalsan contributed to a ramping up leftist socialist reforms when again encouraged by Soviet agents, he introduced personally formulated decrees that intensified land confiscation and forced collectivization measures. His appointment in 1931 as Minister of Livestock and Agriculture (a position he held until 1935) gave him even greater authority to enforce the policies. Traditional herders were forced off the steppe and into badly managed collective farms, destroying one third of Mongolian livestock. Over 800 properties belonging to the nobility and the Buddhist faith were confiscated and over 700 head of mostly noble households were executed.