Accurate measures of effective population sizes ( N e ) in livestock require good quality data and specialized skills for their computation and analysis. N e can be estimated by Wright's equation N e = 4MF/( M + F) (M, F being sires and dams, respectively), but this requires assumptions which are often not met. Total census sizes N c of livestock breeds are collated globally. This paper investigates whether estimates of N e can be made from N c ; this would facilitate conservation monitoring. Some N e methodologies avoid the assumptions of Wright's equation and permit measurement, rather than estimation, of N e . Those considered here employ, respectively, linkage disequilibrium (LD) of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (yielding N e ( LD)), and genealogical analysis (rate of increase of inbreeding, DF), yielding N e (DF). Considering breeds of cattle, sheep, horses, pigs and goats for which N c and either N e ( LD) or N e ( DF) are known (totals of 203 breeds and 321 breeds, respectively), proportionality has been investigated between N c and these measures of N e . N e ( LD) was found to increase with N c , significantly in sheep and horses, less so in cattle, but not at all in pigs. N e ( DF) was correlated with log 10 ( N c ) in cattle, sheep and horses (53, 56, 43 breeds, respectively). N e ( LD) was correlated in cattle (73 breeds) and pigs (31 breeds) with the log 10 transformation of N e as calculated by Wright's equation.Further verification and refinement are needed, particularly of census data, but credible predictions of N e are obtainable by applying the following multipliers to log 10 ( N c ): cattle 17.61, sheep 97.72, horse 70.78. For cattle and pigs, multiplying log 10 ( N e (Wright)) by, respectively, 40.69 and 60.09, also gives credible predictions. Such census-based estimates of N e could in principle be generated by non-specialists and are likely to be suited to audits of conservation activity when financial resources or availability of data are limiting. The ratio N e /N c varied among species with an overall median value of 0.03, less than a tenth of that typically observed in wild mammals. Characteristics were also investigated of a distinct herdbook-based methodology, namely the development of Wright's equation to take into account variances of progeny numbers to yield what has been termed here N e (Hill). Comparison of these values with N e (Wright) could help to identify breeds with breeding structures conducive or inimical to genetic conservation. However, N e (Hill) requires breed-specific values for these variances, and this restricts its applicability.