Bale identification assembly for binding an identification tag to a bale of agricultural crop material

A bale identification assembly for use with an agricultural baler used to take loose crop material from the ground and compress the loose crop material to form a bale in a baling chamber with a reciprocating plunger, the baler having at least one crop sensor configured to sense a parameter of the crop material or at least one bale sensor configured to sense a parameter of the formed bale, a knotter system comprising a knotter mechanism for securing a binding material to bind the formed bale and tie a knot in the binding material, and a discharge chute at the rear end of the baling chamber through which a completed bale is discharged, the bale identification assembly comprising:

• a binding material used by the knotter system to bind the formed bale, the binding material comprising identification tags at spaced intervals along the binding material;
• a read module with one or more antennas configured to transmit interrogator signals and also receives authentication replies from the identification tags;
• a position sensor configured to predict the passage of the identification tags through the knotter mechanism;
• a bale length sensor providing a signal representing bale length, with a control signal being sent to initiate a tying cycle when the formed bale reaches a length corresponding to a desired bale length;
• and
• a controller configured to receive signals from the bale length sensor and the position sensor and to generate a signal to alter the length of the bale by causing an additional flake to be added to the bale by the plunger or the bale to be finished with fewer flakes to prevent the knotter system from tying a knot in the binding material such that the identification tag is positioned in a portion of the binding material used to form the knot.