The International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) established a list of “Breed Codes on Bovine Semen Straws for International Trade” during the 32nd ICAR session in Bled, Slovenia. The list contains the most relevant breeds for international trade in semen, and was compiled by the ICAR working group on AI & other relevant technologies. The list is now part of the ICAR guidelines “International Agreement of Recording Practices”, and the most recent list is also available below.

NOTE! These breed codes does not apply to the identification of breeds in the international genetic evaluations offered by Interbull, but ONLY to the identification of semen straws for international trade!

• English breed names and codes
  View the document approved by ICAR identifying breed names and codes.
  
• English breed names and codes for straw ID
  This list states breed names with codes in alphabetical order, as given in the document approved by ICAR. One line of text contains one entry. A semicolon (;) separates a main breed name, its code, and what breeds are covered under the main breed name.
  

Requests for expanding the list with breed codes and names, to be used for identification of bovine semen straws for international trade, are collated by the Interbull Centre.
Additional breed resources can be found at:
http://dad.fao.org/