Breed Statistics, calculated Jan 2026

Data shown in these analyses is taken from the latest BWCS survey, completed on 31 Dec 2025.

Registered Females	2383
Registered Bulls	105
Bull Registered Peninding Inspection	53
Birth Notified Bulls	40
AI Sires Available (non-live)	20

These figures include all live, registered or birth notified bulls and females, residing in current members’ herds at the time of calculation. Live registered animals sold outside of members’ herds are not included here, as this data is not fully available.

Of the 2383 registered females on the database, approximately 2000 of those would be of breeding age for the Spring/Summer 2026 bulling season. 105 bulls were fully registered and available for immediate use in 2026, with a further 93 young bulls either registered pending inspection or birth notified, and able to be inspected for full registration in 2026/27. A further 20 registered sires born between 1978 and 2012 had semen in storage.

Updated herd size information now shows that 32% of BWCS membership is made up of non cattle-owning members. These comprise associate members in the UK and overseas, as well as a number of retired breeders. 36% of members own between 10 and 49 animals, a further 25% own between 1 and 9 animals, and just 2% of the membership own herds of over 100 registered/notified cattle.

KINSHIP

Mean IBC of current live population: 0.1056

With each ‘tidying up’ of the Grassroots Online database, we can then calculate the most accurate mean inbreeding coefficient (IBC) for the current live population, which can be used by members as a benchmark when making breeding decisions in the herd. General guidance for conservation breeding in rare breed populations is to try to use as many males as possible, not using too many offspring from any one male, and ideally selecting only matings with a kinship score lower than the mean IBC for the live population. By applying this advice to our breeding programs, we continue to work towards a breed-wide mean IBC of 10% (0.1000) or below, considered to be a suitable standard for pedigree populations.

A questions often asked by potential new breeders is “how easy will it be for me to find a bull that fits my requirements, which isn’t related to the females I buy?” Based on these recent calculations, we can see that the British White breed remains in a favourable position with a wide selection of good quality, unrelated bulls always available, plus a healthy number of future herd sires coming through the BWCS Bull Inspections Scheme each year.