Control system and method for balers using crop constituents

A baler for forming a bale of crop material, comprising:

• a bale chamber for forming the bale;
• one or more constituent property sensors configured to detect one or more constituent properties of the crop material used to form the bale and to generate one or more sensor signals corresponding to the one or more constituent properties, wherein the one or more constituent properties include one or more of the constituent properties selected from the group consisting of:
• moisture content, dry matter content, crude protein content, crude starch content, neutral detergent fiber content, acid detergent fiber content, crude sugar content, crude fat content, metabolized energy content and oil content;
• one or more bale forming actuators configured to adjust compaction and/or wrap tension of the bale as the bale is formed;
• and
• a controller configured to receive the sensor signals and to generate one or more control signals to the one or more bale forming actuators to adjust the compaction and/or the wrap tension of the bale at least in part in response to the one or more sensor signals.

A method of forming a bale of crop material, comprising:

• detecting one or more constituent properties other than moisture content of the crop material using one or more constituent property sensors;
• generating one or more sensor signals with the one or more constituent property sensors, the signals corresponding to the one or more constituent properties other than moisture content, wherein the one or more constituent properties include one or more of the constituent properties selected from the group consisting of:
• moisture content, dry matter content, crude protein content, crude starch content, neutral detergent fiber content, acid detergent fiber content, crude sugar content, crude fat content, metabolized energy content and oil content;
• receiving the sensor signals with a controller;
• generating one or more control signals with the controller;
• and
• adjusting one or more bale forming actuators in response to the one or more control signals, and thereby automatically adjusting one or more physical characteristics of the bale as the bale is formed.