The Bovine Pangenome Consortium (BPC) is an international collaboration dedicated to the assembly of cattle genomes to develop a more complete representation of cattle genomic diversity. The goal of the BPC is to provide genome assemblies and a community-agreed pangenome representation to replace breed-specific reference assemblies for cattle genomics. The BPC invites partners sharing our vision to participate in the production of these assemblies and the development of a common, community-approved, pangenome reference as a public resource for the research community (https://bovinepangenome.github.io/). This community-driven resource will provide the context for comparison between studies and the future foundation for cattle genomic selection.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13059-023-02975-0.