The most important terms relating to livestock keeping, notification requirements, and direct payments in Switzerland, explained clearly and concisely.
TVD (Tierverkehrsdatenbank)
The central Swiss database in which farm animals and their movements (birth, arrival, departure, death) are recorded. It serves traceability purposes, for example in the event of a disease outbreak, and is operated via agate.ch. The Animal Diseases Ordinance requires births within 30 days, and arrivals, departures, and deaths within three working days. For movements, Herdy deliberately calculates three calendar days and is therefore stricter than the law: the date shown is a recommendation, not the statutory deadline. Slaughter is always reported by the slaughterhouse, never by the farm sending the animal. More on this under TVD connection.
TAMV (Tierarzneimittelverordnung)
The regulation governing the handling of veterinary medicinal products. Among other things, it requires livestock keepers to maintain a treatment journal.
Treatment journal
A record of all medicinal treatments: animal, medication, dosage, date, and withdrawal period. Mandatory under TAMV and must be available for inspection. More on this under Recording treatments.
Withdrawal period
The period following a treatment during which products from an animal must not enter the food chain, until any medicinal residues have been eliminated. Herdy keeps three separate periods: meat, milk, and organs. The period starts on the day after the last application, and the release date is the first day the products are allowed again. On organic farms, Herdy doubles the period printed on the packaging. More on this under Withdrawal periods.
Organic treatment limit
On organic farms, an animal may receive at most three countable medicinal treatments per calendar year, and only one if its productive life cycle is under a year. Once the limit is exceeded, the animal loses its organic status and has to go through the conversion periods again. Parasite control, anaesthetics and painkillers, and treatments under national animal-disease programmes do not count towards the limit. Herdy counts the treatments per animal and warns before the limit is reached. More on this under Recording treatments.
Footrot
A contagious claw disease in sheep. Since October 2024, every sheep holding in Switzerland takes part in the national control programme: each holding is officially sampled once between 1 October and 31 March. A farm is then free, not tested, or blocked; a blocked farm may not buy, sell, or summer any animals. Herdy shows the status, compiles the risk-animal list for sampling, and logs the footbaths. More on this under Footrot.
RAUS (Regelmässiger Auslauf ins Freie)
A voluntary direct-payment programme that promotes regular outdoor access for animals (pasture or exercise yard). The outdoor time must be documented in an exercise log.
BTS (Besonders tierfreundliche Stallhaltung)
A voluntary programme promoting animal-friendly housing systems in the barn (e.g. bedded lying areas, natural light). Can be combined with RAUS.
Exercise log
The record of pasture and outdoor days per animal category, required by RAUS, by the pasture contribution, and by the organic guidelines. A day must be entered within three days, and the log is the one document that may not be submitted after the fact during an inspection. How many days are required depends on the farm type, the programme, and the species, for example 26 pasture days per summer month under RAUS. Herdy shows per category whether the log is up to date and prints monthly and annual journals as PDFs. More on this under Exercise log.
Alpine summering (Sömmerung)
The keeping of animals on alpine pastures during the summer months. Moving animals up and bringing them back down are notifiable animal movements. In Herdy, alpine summering is a module of its own that runs the alpine summer as a season, from planning through the batch notifications to the return of the last animal. Herdy enables it per farm. More on this under Alpine summering.
LSU (Livestock unit)
A unit of measurement that makes different animal species comparable. Sheep and goats correspond to a fraction of one LSU depending on their category; it is relevant for subsidies and herd size calculations, among other things.
Ear tag / double ear tag
The official identification of each animal with a unique number. Sheep and goats carry a double ear tag (two tags with the same number); cattle also carry two ear tags and must be accompanied by a transport document when moved.
Electronic ear tag (EID) and reader
An ear tag with a radio chip that transmits the animal's number without contact. A reader in HID keyboard mode passes the number to a phone, tablet, or computer just like a keystroke; Herdy picks it up on every page, without you having to open a scan window. Devices that only offer the Bluetooth profiles SPP or iAP send no keystrokes and never reach Herdy. More on this under Reader for electronic ear tags.
Initial registration
The first-time registration of an animal or a farm in the TVD, a prerequisite for being able to submit notifications at all.
Transport document
The document that must accompany animals during transport and identifies the origin, destination, and animals. For sheep, Herdy creates it in one go from the summering season, so one document covers many animals. For cattle, it is created per animal from the animal profile. For goats, the TVD no longer issues a transport document, so Herdy cannot produce one. More on this under Run the season.
Livestock keeper
Anyone who keeps animals for agricultural purposes. Livestock keepers are subject to notification, identification, and record-keeping obligations.
Livestock protection
Measures to protect farm animals from large predators (e.g. fencing, livestock guardian dogs). Partially subsidised; measures must be documented.
FAMACHA
An assessment scheme for estimating anaemia in sheep and goats based on the colour of the lower eyelid. The scale runs from 1 (deep red, optimal) to 5 (almost white, severely anaemic). From a score of 4, Herdy lists an animal as a treatment candidate. This lets you deworm selectively instead of treating the whole flock, which protects the active substances against resistance. More on this under FAMACHA score.
Body Condition Score (BCS)
The assessment of an animal's body condition by sight and touch, on a scale of 1.0 to 5.0 in half steps, so nine levels. The healthy range is 2.5 to 3.5; below that the animal is too thin, above it too fat. Herdy shows the history per animal and lets you score several animals in a row. More on this under Body Condition Score.
Heat and heat monitoring
Heat is the phase in which a female animal is receptive. Heat monitoring in Herdy uses cycle length, tolerance window, and the last mating to work out which animal needs a check and when, and gives a reason for every entry on the work list. The values can be set per species, including a breeding season for seasonal breeds. More on this under Heat monitoring.
Mating and pregnancy examination
A mating is the documented service of a dam, either as a single mating on one date or as a mating period over several days. From it, Herdy calculates the expected birth date and the whole schedule of checks. The pregnancy examination records the result, for many animals at once in a list with a shared examination date. More on this under Recording matings and Pregnancy examination.
Group
A freely named set of animals, in the four types production, breeding, pasture, and treatment. Groups help you find animals again and let you treat or deworm a whole group in one step. Only pasture groups can additionally carry a location. More on this under Group management.
Partner farm
A farm you exchange animals with: another livestock holding, a slaughterhouse, or an alp. Herdy stores the TVD number and address once and then offers the farm for selection in arrival and departure notifications. The address can be taken from the TVD. More on this under Partner farms.
Capacity and annual peak
Capacity is the number of animals your subscription covers. You answer a single question for it: how many animals you keep at your annual peak. Counted are all animals with the status active, on the alp, or missing, regardless of age; animals that have departed, died, or been slaughtered do not count. What matters is therefore the spring after lambing or calving, not your winter stock, and animals on the alp do not reduce the home farm's capacity. More on this under Pricing & subscription.
Ration plan and feeding journal
The feeding journal documents what your animals eat: feed master data, purchases with delivery notes, ration plans, and the audit export. A ration plan records, for one animal group over a period, which feed is fed in which daily quantity, calculated either per animal or per group. Together they prove to Bio Suisse, IP-Suisse, and the feed inspection that purchased feed and fed ration match. More on this under Feeding.
Roles in Herdy
Every person on a farm has exactly one role. Owners may do everything, including billing, roles, and farm settings. Family is freely configurable per module and may invite further members. Employees read the animals and work in health, breeding, and care. Veterinarians read the animals, write in health, and read care. Billing is visible to the owner only. More on this under Team and roles.