Gave proof of the healthy herd's condition (8)
I believe the answer is:
attested
'gave proof of the healthy herd's condition' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'gave proof of the' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'proof' could be 'test' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'test' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for attested that I've seen before include "Claimed" , "Declared that something was true" , "Declared to be true or genuine" , "Provided proof" , "Confirmed" .)