Estimate pay weight after shrink, pounds lost, and optional dollar impact from a shrink percentage and cattle price per cwt.
Use this when comparing pencil shrink, truck shrink, or sale-barn drafts against home weights — and when you want a quick $/head impact from a given shrink percent.
Actual shrink depends on fill, time off feed/water, weather, and handling. This is arithmetic on the percent you enter, not a predictor of field shrink.
Pay weight is live weight times (1 − shrink fraction). Value loss uses price per hundredweight on the lost pounds.
pay_wt = weight × (1 − shrink% ÷ 100)
lb_lost = weight − pay_wt
$ loss = (lb_lost ÷ 100) × $/cwt
1,200 lb animal, 3% shrink, $180/cwt:
Pay weight = 1,200 × 0.97 = 1,164 lb; lost = 36 lb; value ≈ 0.36 × 180 = $64.80.
Assumptions: flat pencil shrink on the entered weight; price applies uniformly to lost cwt.
Limits: does not model gut fill recovery, dark cutters, or sliding scales. Group drafts may average differently than one head.
Responsibility: verify contract terms for shrink and weighing conditions.
Often 1–4% depending on haul distance and time off feed/water, but your market and cattle class vary — enter the figure in your bid or experience.
Pencil shrink is a contract deduction. Actual shrink is scale difference. This calculator does the math for whichever percent you supply.
Enter average weight for one head, or total load weight to see load-level lb and dollars.