Five ways to run your animals, compared.
This table sits on our own website, so you have every reason to distrust it. That is why it contains only what you can verify, every row with a date. And underneath it is the case in which you should not choose Herdy.
No credit card.
| Criterion | HerdyHerd management | Barto | SmartHerd | Identitas TVD app | agate.ch + paper |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | Sheep, goat, cattle, pig (group notification in preparation) | Cattle at the centre | Cattle | Cattle | All |
| Files the TVD notification itself | Yes, birth, arrival, departure, death, Sömmerung; wherever the interface permits it | Yes, for cattle | Yes, for cattle | Yes, for cattle | Yes, you type it into the portal |
| Treatment journal under TAMV | Yes, journal and inventory list under Art. 28 | Yes | Medication management and health data | No | You keep it yourself |
| Outdoor-access journal RAUS | Yes | Yes | no public information | No | You keep it yourself |
| Sömmerung as a collective notification | Yes | no public information | no public information | no public information | In the portal, one by one or as a bulk report via CSV |
| Livestock register at the push of a button | Yes | Yes | no public information | no public information | You keep it yourself |
| Languages | German, French, Italian, English | German, French, Italian | German, French, Italian | German, French, Italian | German, French, Italian |
| Price | from CHF 99/year | Documentation package CHF 139/year; individual modules from CHF 29/year, some free | Free for members of a breeding organisation, otherwise CHF 30 per semester | free | free |
| On your phone | Web, installable straight to the home screen | Web and app | Web, installable straight to the home screen | App | Web |
| Suisse-Bilanz, field calendar, cantonal data exchange | No | Yes | No | No | Partly, via other portals |
When you should not choose Herdy.
If you run a pure dairy operation, Barto is the better choice. Barto calculates the Suisse-Bilanz, keeps the field calendar and crop rotation, is federally recognised for the nutrient balance and exchanges data directly with several cantons. Herdy has none of that, and we are not building any of it.
If your main concern is milk yield or breeding values, Herdy is not the right program for you today either. Neither is built.
Herdy is the better choice when sheep or goats make up a substantial part of your operation, on their own or alongside cattle. For those animals Herdy files the notification itself instead of merely preparing it for you.
Your reader stays. Herdy runs the herd.
Identitas operates the TVD and is our partner, not our opponent. If you work with an Agrident or Allflex reader, you can use it with Herdy directly in HID mode: the device types the ear-tag number into the field as if it were a keyboard. You record at the pen, and the management, the journals and the notifications continue in Herdy.
- Agateway could record at the pen without a connection. Identitas discontinued the product on 31 July 2026; existing subscriptions run until their expiry date. Recording without a connection is something Herdy cannot do, and we would rather write it here than have you find out in the barn.
Common questions about the comparison
Yes, and for some operations that is the most sensible arrangement: Barto for the arable side, Herdy for the whole livestock side. You then pay twice, but cattle, sheep, goats and pigs stand in the same herd for the first time.
Check the one row that matters.
Will you still have to log in to Agate afterwards? Fourteen days free, no credit card, and you can see for yourself.