A crop residue spread monitoring system for an agricultural harvester, the agricultural harvester comprising a self-propelled agricultural harvesting vehicle with a threshing rotor supported in a grating, a chopper disposed to chop crop residue exiting the threshing rotor, and a spreading mechanism disposed to receive chopped material from the chopper and spread the chopped residue over the ground, wherein the crop residue spread monitoring system comprises at least one camera disposed below an exit of the spreading mechanism to image a plume of residue leaving the spreading mechanism from an underside of the plume of residue.

A combine including a feeder housing for receiving harvested crop, a separating system for threshing the harvested crop to produce grain and residue, a residue spreader wheel spinning at a speed for expelling the residue from the combine, a residue deflector positioned at an angle for deflecting the expelled residue in a predetermined direction, and a controller. The controller is configured to determine a heading of the combine, determine wind effects on the expelled residue based on an observation of the expelled residue at the determined heading, and adjust at least one of the speed of the residue spreader wheel or the angle of the residue deflector based on the wind effects to achieve a desired residue spread at the determined heading.

A forage harvester configured for chopping harvested crops and producing a stream of chopped crop material. The harvester includes a rotatable blower drum mounted in a blower housing, for propelling the stream of crop material into an outlet duct of the harvester. The blower drum has an open structure which allows a flow of air in the axial direction of the drum. The blower drum is mounted between two sidewalls of the blower housing, at least one of the sidewalls comprising one or more air inlet openings. The harvester further includes at least one set of axial flow turbine blades, mounted between the blower drum and one or both of the sidewalls of the blower housing, the blades being rotatable about the blower drum's rotation axis.

A forage bale feed out apparatus is described. The apparatus comprises a chassis arranged to be operatively mounted on or in association with a vehicle in use; feed out means comprising a feed out roller having an axis of rotational symmetry about which the roller is arranged to rotate, a drive motor arranged to rotate the feed out roller, conveying means for urging a bale towards said feed out roller as the size of a bale diminishes. The feed out roller is located at a feed out region, and the conveying means is orientated such that the end of the conveying means proximate the feed out region is elevated towards the axis of rotational symmetry of the feed out roller. The apparatus further comprises a spreader tool adapted to spread and distribute the forage bale portions fed out from the feed roller at the feed out region, wherein the spreader comprises a roller having an axis of rotational symmetry about which the roller is arranged to rotate. The spreader roller has radially extending tines at intervals which tines co operate in use to spread feed from a bale, and further comprising a spreader drive motor arranged to rotate the spreader roller, wherein the feed out roller and the spreader roller are parallel and driven in opposite directions.

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.

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 straw chopper for a combine harvester including a rotor supporting a plurality of chopping elements. A rotor housing including an inlet opening, an outlet axially aligned with the inlet opening, and at least one outlet that is axially offset from the inlet opening. A portion of the straw is conveyed tangentially to the axially-aligned outlet, whilst a further portion is conveyed from the inlet opening to the axially offset outlet(s) via a path having an axial component, for example a helical path. Guide vanes may be provided on the inside of the housing to impart an axial force upon the straw.

A mulch cutting and spreading machine is a machine that is designed to be able to suction mulch out of the bed of a vehicle that is towing the mulch cutting and spreading machine and to simultaneously suction and chop the mulch and discharge it through a discharge hose that is directed by the user. The mulch or other such material can be then blown or spread over an area quickly in one combined action.

A mulch cutting and spreading machine is a machine that is designed to be able to suction mulch out of the bed of a vehicle that is towing the mulch cutting and spreading machine and to simultaneously suction and chop the mulch and discharge it through a discharge hose that is directed by the user. The mulch or other such material can be then blown or spread over an area quickly in one combined action.

A dual rotary cutter bale processor operable in a first mode for producing ground material and dispersing ground material for a first use and a second mode for producing cut material and dispersing cut material from the processor for a second use, where the cut material is coarser than the ground material. Material is processed for feeding into a container, bunk, or tire, into windrows on the ground, making piles of material, spreading the material for use as animal bedding, and/or mulching newly seeded areas. A screen and moveable bypass door for each rotary cutter and a position of a deflector direct a cut path such that the bypass doors can be used to force the material through the screens to further reduce size of the material or the deflectors can be used so the material bypasses the screens for dispersal from the processor in a coarser state.