An agricultural harvester includes a chassis; a threshing and separating assembly carried by the chassis; and a chopper assembly carried by the chassis that receives crop material from the threshing and separating assembly. The chopper assembly includes at least one movable chopping knife; a plurality of counter knives movable between a first knife position and a second knife position, the plurality of counter knives configured to cooperate with the at least one chopping knife to cut crop material when in the first knife position; a shear bar movable between a first bar position and a second bar position; and a linkage assembly connected to the plurality of counter knives and the shear bar such that the linkage assembly is selectively actuable to simultaneously move the plurality of counter knives and the shear bar between their respective first and second positions.

A combine harvester including an aft portion, a spreader assembly, a monitoring system, and a processing unit. The monitoring system including sensors coupled to the aft portion. The sensors: receiving a plurality of response waves reflected from a portion of the crop residue that is discharged from the spreader assembly toward a discharge area before the portion of crop residue arrives at the discharge area; and sending a response signal representative of the plurality of response waves reflected from the portion of the crop residue, the reflected waves comprising a sequence of multiple reflections distributed over time. The processing unit receiving the response signal from the plurality of sensors; and processing the response signal to determine a reflected energy distribution from the portion of the crop residue representative of a distribution of the crop residue over the discharge area substantially perpendicular to a travel direction of the combine harvester.

A crop cutting device including knives pivotally mounted below a crop guiding surface. Each knife is pivotable between a retracted position in which it is located below the guiding surface and an extended position. At least a cutting edge of the knife projects above the surface. A selector mechanism selectively holds spring loaded parts of operating members to maintain the corresponding knife in its retracted inoperative position while the operating member is moved to its second position. The selector mechanism includes a shaft carrying a plurality of cam elements which are mounted on the shaft and arranged to be moved to a position for blocking a respective spring loaded part upon rotation of the shaft from a non-holding to a holding position.

A large square baler for performing a baling operation to form square bales includes a pickup unit for picking up crop lying on the ground, a cutter unit for cutting picked up crop into at least one predetermined cut length, a pre-compression chamber, a stuffer device, a bale chamber for forming a square bale from flakes of crop pre-compressed in the pre-compression chamber, and a tying system for binding the square bale. The stuffer device is configured to pre-compress the crop into the flakes in the pre-compression chamber and transport the flakes into the bale chamber. The cutter unit is controlled in dependence on a tying operation conducted by the tying system and on at least one parameter representing the square bale size.

A large square baler for performing a baling operation to form square bales includes a pickup unit for picking up crop lying on the ground, a cutter unit for cutting picked up crop into at least one predetermined cut length, a pre-compression chamber, a stuffer device, a bale chamber for forming a square bale from flakes of crop pre-compressed in the pre-compression chamber, and a tying system for binding the square bale. The stuffer device is configured to pre-compress the crop into the flakes in the pre-compression chamber and transport the flakes into the bale chamber. The cutter unit is controlled in dependence on a tying operation conducted by the tying system and on at least one parameter representing the square bale size.

An agricultural combine has a chassis that supports a feederhouse receiving cut crop material from an agricultural harvesting head. A rotor and concave arrangement receives the cut crop material to thresh the cut crop material and to separate the cut crop material into a flow of grain and a flow of straw. A cleaning shoe receives the flow of grain from the threshing and separating mechanism to clean the flow of grain and to provide a flow of clean grain and a flow of chaff. A residue management system receives the flow of straw and the flow of chaff. The residue management system has a straw chopper that rotates in a first direction in a windrowing mode to windrow the flow of straw and rotates in a second direction opposite the first direction in a chopping mode to chop the flow of straw.

A detection arrangement for detecting a state of wear of a chopping assembly comprises at least one magnet arrangement which includes a magnetic excitation arrangement and a flux-conducting device magnetically coupled thereto. The magnet arrangement provides a pole arrangement which forms at least one magnetic pole for outwardly conducting magnetic flux. At least one portion of the chopping blades moves past the pole arrangement during a rotation of the cutting cylinder, and forms an air gap arrangement including at least one air gap with respect to the pole arrangement and, as a result, at least one magnetic circuit excited by the excitation arrangement is closed via the chopping blade. At least one portion of the magnetic flux generated by the magnetic excitation arrangement is longitudinally guided in the chopping blade at least across one longitudinal portion of the chopping blade.

A combine harvester including an aft portion, a spreader assembly, a monitoring system, and a processing unit. The monitoring system including sensors coupled to the aft portion. The sensors: receiving a plurality of response waves reflected from a portion of the crop residue that is discharged from the spreader assembly toward a discharge area before the portion of crop residue arrives at the discharge area; and sending a response signal representative of the plurality of response waves reflected from the portion of the crop residue, the reflected waves comprising a sequence of multiple reflections distributed over time. The processing unit receiving the response signal from the plurality of sensors; and processing the response signal to determine a reflected energy distribution from the portion of the crop residue representative of a distribution of the crop residue over the discharge area substantially perpendicular to a travel direction of the combine harvester.

A bale processor has a towed body that includes one or two hay bale shredders in the form of a flail drum. The bale processor is self-loading such that bales may be loaded in the processing tubs by a set of rear mounted arms and various conveyor chains. The processor also includes a grain tank, a grain metering system, and a grain cracker, all mounted in series. The grain cracker may have a choice of outputs, including back to the grain tank. The cracked grain is fed into the tub to be mixed with other feed materials, such as shredded straw, and is then discharged to the opposite side of the unit. There may be a feed chopper mounted downstream of the tub, such that the feed chopper receives both the grain material and the shredded hay feed. The feed chopper and the grain cracker operate independently, and may have different setting of size, speed, and weight or volume per minute or per unit of distance travelled. The output may have a curtain assembly to facilitate deposit in windrows.

A bale processor has a towed body that includes one or two hay bale shredders in the form of a flail drum. The bale processor is self-loading such that bales may be loaded in the processing tubs by a set of rear mounted arms and various conveyor chains. The processor also includes a grain tank, a grain metering system, and a grain cracker, all mounted in series. The grain cracker may have a choice of outputs, including back to the grain tank. The cracked grain is fed into the tub to be mixed with other feed materials, such as shredded straw, and is then discharged to the opposite side of the unit. There may be a feed chopper mounted downstream of the tub, such that the feed chopper receives both the grain material and the shredded hay feed. The feed chopper and the grain cracker operate independently, and may have different setting of size, speed, and weight or volume per minute or per unit of distance travelled. The output may have a curtain assembly to facilitate deposit in windrows.