A system for gathering material, the system comprising: one or more vehicles (10, 16) having an intake mechanism for the material; a location-tracking system movable with the one or more vehicles (10, 16) and capable of determining location information for the one or more vehicles (10, 16) and the intake mechanism; one or more processor devices; and one or more memory architectures coupled with the one or more processor devices; wherein the one or more processor devices are configured to: determine a current orientation of the intake mechanism based upon, at least in part, location information determined by the location-tracking system; determine a current orientation of the material, based upon, at least in part, historical location information for the material; determine a target orientation of the intake mechanism based upon, at least in part, the determined current orientation of the material; and directing, by the one or more processor devices, a movement of the intake mechanism from the determined current orientation of the intake mechanism toward the determined target orientation, characterized in that the orientation of one or more components of the intake mechanism is directly controllable and wherein the processor devices are configured to move the intake mechanism side to side with respect to the vehicle that supports the intake mechanism. one or more vehicles (10, 16) having an intake mechanism for the material; a location-tracking system movable with the one or more vehicles (10, 16) and capable of determining location information for the one or more vehicles (10, 16) and the intake mechanism; one or more processor devices; and one or more memory architectures coupled with the one or more processor devices; wherein the one or more processor devices are configured to: determine a current orientation of the intake mechanism based upon, at least in part, location information determined by the location-tracking system; determine a current orientation of the material, based upon, at least in part, historical location information for the material; determine a target orientation of the intake mechanism based upon, at least in part, the determined current orientation of the material; and directing, by the one or more processor devices, a movement of the intake mechanism from the determined current orientation of the intake mechanism toward the determined target orientation, characterized in that the orientation of one or more components of the intake mechanism is directly controllable and wherein the processor devices are configured to move the intake mechanism side to side with respect to the vehicle that supports the intake mechanism. determine a current orientation of the intake mechanism based upon, at least in part, location information determined by the location-tracking system; determine a current orientation of the material, based upon, at least in part, historical location information for the material; determine a target orientation of the intake mechanism based upon, at least in part, the determined current orientation of the material; and directing, by the one or more processor devices, a movement of the intake mechanism from the determined current orientation of the intake mechanism toward the determined target orientation, characterized in that the orientation of one or more components of the intake mechanism is directly controllable and wherein the processor devices are configured to move the intake mechanism side to side with respect to the vehicle that supports the intake mechanism.