Withdrawal periods: keeping meat and milk safe to sell

A withdrawal period is the wait after you give a medication before that animal's meat or milk is safe to sell. When you log a dose, AlpacaKeep works out the safe date and shows a warning banner on the animal until it clears.

What a withdrawal period is#

Think of it like the time you wait after painting a wall before you lean on it. The medication needs time to clear the animal's body. Selling meat or milk before then is not safe.

Each medication in your list has a Withdrawal (days) value. That number is how long the wait is.

Not sure of the number yet? Leave the field empty. Enter 0 only when the label or your vet says there is no withdrawal. An empty field shows as Not set: animals treated with that medicine in the last year are never listed as clear, and the dashboard shows which medicines still need their days.

A simple example#

You treat an animal on 1 June with a medication that has a 28-day withdrawal. The 28 days run out at the end of 29 June, so the animal is clear and safe to sell from 30 June.

1 June ──────── treated
   |
   |  28-day withdrawal (not safe to sell, through 29 June)
   |
30 June ──────── clear

The withdrawal banner#

After you log the dose, a withdrawal banner shows on that animal. It tells you:

• That the animal is not safe for slaughter or sale yet.
• Each medication, the last day of its withdrawal (shown after until), and the days remaining.
• Each medication links to the treatment it came from, so you can check the dose and route. A dose you recorded with a parasite test has no treatment page, so it shows without a link.

When that last day passes, the banner goes away on its own.

See your whole herd at a glance#

On the Reports page, the Clear to sell list shows your whole herd split into who is clear today and who is still in a withdrawal period. An animal given a medicine with no withdrawal set shows as Not set, never as clear. Use All, Clear or In withdrawal to filter it (and Not set while any animal is in that state), Export CSV to keep a copy, and Print PDF for a dated sheet to hand to a buyer or the abattoir. Use it before a sale day so you do not pick the wrong animal.

Watch out. These dates are a helper, not a legal ruling. AlpacaKeep does not stop you doing anything. Always confirm the exact withdrawal time with your vet before you sell meat or milk.