One option to safeguard a breed is to use it as one of the components of a cross-breeding programme. However, any use of pure-bred females to produce cross-breeds will reduce the populationsizeunlessthereisareproductivesurplus of females. In many cases, the environmental and management conditions do not allow for much reproductive surplus – especially in cattle, which have low reproductive rates. As such, most of the females that are raised must be retained as breeding animals in order to maintain the size of the population. In fact, the largest effect comes from the requirement for a smaller number of indigenous breeding males, brought about by the smaller number of indigenous females that are being used to produce pure-bred offspring. A logical starting point for consideration of a cross- breeding programme is, therefore, to estimate