Group of animals picked up, reportedly (4)
I believe the answer is:
herd
'group of animals' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'picked up reportedly' is the wordplay.
'picked up' becomes 'heard' (hearing is a kind of picking up).
'reportedly' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'heard' is a homophone of 'HERD'.
(Other definitions for herd that I've seen before include "pack" , "Group of animals of one kind" , "Drive" , "Bunch of cattle" , "Stock of cattle" .)