Calculator
Silage Shrink Loss Calculator
Estimate the dry matter and dollar value lost to silage shrink on your operation. Industry averages run 5–20%; top operations stay under 10%. Enter your pile inputs and the calculator returns total loss across the feedout period.
How to use this calculator
Volume × density gives total dry matter put up (the density input is on a DM basis, so the dry-matter percent doesn't enter the formula here). Multiply by your shrink rate to estimate the share that never reaches the cow. The pile-level dollar figure assumes silage is replaced at the per-ton DM rate you enter.
The optional annual feed cost input adds an operation-wide view: every percentage point of feed-system shrink reduction recovers exactly 1% of the annual feed bill. On a 2,500-cow dairy with ~$6M of feed cost, that's ~$60,000 per percentage point — the figure most worth pinning to the office wall.
What this calculator can and can't do
It is an estimate. Real shrink varies by harvest year, packing crew, weather, and dozens of other factors. The point of the number isn't precision — it's scale. If the calculator says shrink costs your operation hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, that is a conversation worth having with the team. Drone-based pile measurement narrows the estimate considerably; manual measurements are wider.
Want to measure shrink for real?
SilagePlan measures every pile on the farm with drone or satellite imagery, tracks shrink over time, and produces run-out forecasts you can hand to your nutritionist. Once you've measured shrink with software, the calculator on this page becomes the planning tool — what's the return on dropping shrink another point next year?