Bluetooth Ear-Tag Scanner

Overview

When you work with a Bluetooth ear-tag scanner (e.g. an RFID reading wand), Herdy captures the scanned numbers automatically — on every page, without needing to open a dedicated scan window. This is significantly faster than camera recognition and ideal for sessions where you are capturing many animals one after another.

Requirements

• A Bluetooth RFID scanner that operates as an HID keyboard (virtually all models currently used in Swiss agriculture work this way, e.g. from Allflex, Datamars / Tracer, Shearwell).
• Bluetooth pairing with your phone or tablet — the same as pairing a Bluetooth keyboard.
• If you have connected the device to a computer via USB, it works via USB as well — the capture experience in Herdy is identical.

How global capture works

Once your scanner is paired with the device:

1. Open Herdy on any page — animal list, treatment journal, TVD notification, care note, etc.
2. Hold the scanner to the ear tag and press the trigger
3. Herdy detects the scan automatically and responds depending on context:
   • You are in an ear-tag input field — the number is entered directly
   • You are anywhere else on the page — a toast notification appears with the scanned number and a quick-action menu: Open animal, Record treatment, Record weight, Other action
4. A short confirmation tone signals a successful scan

Tip: When capturing many animals in a batch session (e.g. during weighing or a mass vaccination), open the session once — after that, scanning each animal and briefly confirming your input is all you need.

Audio feedback

Herdy plays different tones so you always know what is happening without having to look at the screen:

• Short high tone — Scan recognised successfully
• Lower tone — Scan received, but the animal is not in your herd
• Double alert tone — Scan unclear or received twice

The sound signals can be turned on or off in Profile settings > Sounds.

Toast notification after scanning

After every scan, Herdy briefly shows the most recently captured ear-tag number at the bottom of the screen — with the following actions:

• Open animal — go directly to the animal profile
• Treatment — new treatment with the animal pre-selected
• Weight — new weight measurement
• Dismiss — hide the toast

If you do not tap any of the actions, the toast disappears on its own after a few seconds.

When the animal is not found

If Herdy does not find the scanned number in your herd, the option Add new animal appears with the ear tag pre-filled — particularly handy after a purchase or when encountering an unknown animal during alpine summering (Sömmerung).

Relationship to camera OCR

• Bluetooth scanner — fastest capture when the device is available. No lighting requirement, no problem with dirty tags.
• Camera OCR — fallback when the scanner is not at hand or an ear tag is not RFID-capable (e.g. visual-only tags without a chip).

Both methods can be combined freely — the camera function (see Scan ear tag) remains available at all times.

Troubleshooting