Efficient use of machines is especially important in forage harvesting due to the short harvesting period and expensive machinery. To achieve the best efficiency, a harvesting machine, such as a loader wagon, should be used with optimal loading. Whereas overloading the machine can cause blockages in the cut-and-feed unit, underloading consumes more time and reduces the quality of the resulting silage. In addition, the quality can be improved by optimizing the dosage of the additive. Since the quality has an important effect on the product of a dairy and beef farm, poor quality can cause significant financial loss for the farmer.

In this research, two ISO 11783 electronic control units were implemented for automating the harvesting process. The first estimates the forage mass flow in the cut-and-feed unit of the wagon with a Kalman filter based on tractor speed, swath size, mass of the load, and moisture content of the forage. Furthermore, the control unit utilizes fuzzy logic for controlling the speed of the tractor according to the mass flow estimation, the capacity of the machine, and the swath size.  As a result, the mass flow in the cut-and-feed unit is always optimal regardless of the swath size and thus no blockages will be formed. The second control unit applies additive on forage according to the mass flow estimation so that the ratio of additive and forage is precisely what is desired. In the field tests, the performance of the system proved to be in line with the specification.