Overview
After a medicinal treatment, animals may not be slaughtered for a certain period, and their milk may not be used. These waiting times are called withdrawal periods (also: waiting periods). They ensure that no medication residues enter the food chain.
Herdy takes over the calculation and monitoring of these periods fully automatically. You do not need to remember any dates or calculate manually.
How withdrawal periods work
Automatic calculation
As soon as you record a treatment with a medication, Herdy calculates the withdrawal periods:
- Basis for calculation: Date of last application + withdrawal period days of the medication
- Meat (slaughter): Separate period in days, e.g. 28 days
- Milk: Separate period in days, e.g. 7 days (often shorter than the meat period)
- Clearance date: The calculated date from which meat or milk may safely be used again
Example
You treat a ewe on 15 March with a medication that has a 14-day withdrawal period for meat and 4 days for milk:
- Meat clearance: 29 March
- Milk clearance: 19 March
- Until these dates the animal has an active withdrawal period
Separate tracking
Herdy tracks withdrawal periods for meat and milk separately. It is possible that the milk period has already expired while the meat period is still running. Both periods are displayed individually.
Where you see withdrawal periods
Herdy displays active withdrawal periods in several places so that none escape your notice:
In the animal list
Animals with an active withdrawal period receive a prominent badge in the animal list. This shows the number of remaining days, e.g. "Withdrawal period: 12 days remaining". This lets you see at a glance which animals are currently affected.
In the animal profile
When you open an animal with an active withdrawal period, you see a banner at the top with detailed information:
- Type of period (meat and/or milk)
- The exact clearance date
- The number of remaining days
Filter in the animal list
You can filter the animal list specifically for animals with an active withdrawal period:
- Go to Animals
- Use the filter Withdrawal period active
- Herdy shows only the affected animals
This is particularly useful when you want to check before a sale or slaughter which animals are currently blocked.
Dashboard card
On the health dashboard you see a summary card with the total number of all animals that currently have an active withdrawal period. This keeps you informed about the entire herd.
Safety warnings
Herdy protects you from accidental violations of withdrawal periods:
Warning on slaughter or sale
If you want to create a TVD notification (slaughter, sale, or departure) for an animal with an active withdrawal period, Herdy displays a warning dialog:
- The warning informs you that an active withdrawal period exists for this animal
- You see the exact clearance date and the remaining days
- You can cancel the process or proceed with explicit confirmation
Tip: Cancel the process if in doubt and wait until the withdrawal period has expired. Medication residues in food can have serious consequences -- both for health and legally.
Deliberate exceptions
In some situations an animal must be slaughtered despite an ongoing withdrawal period -- for example in an emergency slaughter for animal welfare reasons. Herdy allows this with explicit confirmation so that the decision is documented.
Practical tips
Check before slaughter
Before you take animals to the abattoir, check in Herdy:
- Go to Animals
- Filter by Withdrawal period active
- Make sure that none of the planned slaughter animals appear in the filtered list
Store withdrawal periods correctly
The quality of the withdrawal period calculation depends on the values stored for your medications:
- Check the withdrawal periods on the package insert of each medication
- Ask your veterinarian if you are unsure
- Note that the veterinarian may recommend longer periods than the standard in certain cases (off-label use)
With multiple treatments
If an animal is treated multiple times with different medications, the longest remaining withdrawal period always applies. Herdy takes this into account automatically and always displays the latest clearance date.
Tip: Use the withdrawal period monitoring consistently. It protects not only consumers, but also yourself from complaints during inspections or at abattoirs.