Self-propelled windrower with yield monitoring based on merger load

An agricultural windrower, comprising:

• a chassis;
• a merger system carried by the chassis, the merger system comprising:
• a frame suspended from the chassis;
• a conveyor supported by the merger frame, the conveyor including an endless belt configured to convey crop material to a strip on the ground;
• and
• at least one frame mount coupling the frame to the chassis;
• at least one load sensor associated with the at least one frame mount;
• and
• a controller operatively coupled to the at least one load sensor, the controller being configured to:
• acquire load signals from the at least one load sensor at a certain frequency regarding a load at the at least one frame mount as crop material is conveyed by the endless belt of the conveyor, wherein the certain frequency is defined based on a period of time for the conveyor to rotate half of the endless belt;
• determine a mass of the crop material conveyed by the conveyor and deposited on the ground based at least partially on the load signals;
• determine a crop yield based at least partially on the mass of the crop material;
• and
• output a yield signal corresponding to the crop yield of the crop material deposited in the strip on the ground.

A method of determining a yield of an agricultural windrower traveling across a field when producing double or triple windrows, the method being performed by a controller and comprising:

• when a merger system of the agricultural windrower is in a non-working position, depositing the collected crop material in first strips on the field without using a conveyor of the merger system;
• when the merger system of the agricultural windrower is in a working position:
• conveying collected crop material with the conveyor of the merger system and depositing the collected crop material in second strips on the field, the conveyor including an endless belt, one or two of the second strips being adjacent a respective one of the first strips to provide the double or triple windrows;
• acquiring signals from a sensor as the collected crop material is conveyed by the endless belt of the conveyor;
• and
• determining a mass of the collected crop material conveyed by the conveyor and deposited in the second strips on the field based at least partially on the signals;
• determining a crop yield based at least partially on the mass of the collected crop material of the second strips and a harvested acreage of the field to account for the collected crop material included in the first strips and the second strips;
• and
• outputting a yield signal corresponding to the crop yield of the collected crop material deposited in the first strips and the second strips on the field.