Round baler with pre-cutter and crop distribution system

A baler for forming crop material into a bale, the baler comprising:

• a housing forming a baling chamber having an inlet, wherein the inlet defines an inlet width perpendicular to a central longitudinal axis;
• a pre-cutter disposed forward of the inlet along the central longitudinal axis, wherein the pre-cutter is operable to cut the crop material into segments;
• wherein the pre-cutter includes a cutter width perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis;
• and
• wherein the cutter width is less than the inlet width;
• a crop distributor disposed between the pre-cutter and the inlet along the central longitudinal axis, wherein the crop distributor includes a forward end operable to receive the crop material from the pre-cutter and a rearward end operable to disperse the crop material through the inlet and into the baling chamber;
• wherein the crop distributor is rotatable about a pivot axis, such that the rearward end of the crop distributor moves laterally relative to the central longitudinal axis between a first lateral side and a second lateral side of the housing to distribute the crop material across the inlet width of the baling chamber;
• an actuator coupled to the crop distributor and operable to move the crop distributor relative to the baling chamber;
• a first sensor configured to sense data related to a size of the bale adjacent the first lateral side;
• a second sensor configured to sense data related to a size of the bale adjacent the second lateral side;
• a controller disposed in communication with the actuator, the first sensor, and the second sensor, the controller including a processor and a memory having a distribution algorithm stored thereon, wherein the processor is operable to execute the distribution algorithm to:
• receive the data from the first sensor related to the size of the bale adjacent the first lateral side and the data from the second sensor related to the size of the bale adjacent the second lateral side;
• control the actuator to move the crop distributor between the first lateral side and the second lateral side in response to the data from the first sensor related to the size of the bale adjacent the first lateral side and the data from the second sensor related to the size of the bale adjacent the second lateral side to maintain a constant size of the bale across the entire width of the inlet width.