A bale retriever,, comprising: a chassis; a steering assembly carried by the chassis and configured to steer the bale retriever,; a bale pick up carried by the chassis; and a controller operatively coupled to the steering assembly, the controller being configured to: receive a field signal corresponding to a field map; receive a baler travel signal corresponding to at least one of a baler planned path which is the baler is expected to follow in the field map, or a baler travel path of at least one baler; define an expected location of at least one bale, on the field map based at least partially on the baler travel signal characterized in that; define at least one windrow on the field map; define a baler traveled path on the field map from the received baler travel signal; switch between an efficiency mode and a compaction mode; generate a steering control signal based at least partially on the expected location of the at least one bale, as a shortest distance control signal when in an efficiency mode and as a compaction avoidance control signal when in a compaction mode, wherein the shortest distance control signal corresponds to a straight-line path from the bale retriever to the expected location of the at least one bale that does not cross the at least one windrow and the compaction avoidance control signal corresponds to a path from the bale retriever to the expected location of the at least one bale that overlaps the baler traveled path; and output the steering control signal to the steering assembly. a chassis; a steering assembly carried by the chassis and configured to steer the bale retriever,; a bale pick up carried by the chassis; and a controller operatively coupled to the steering assembly, the controller being configured to: receive a field signal corresponding to a field map; receive a baler travel signal corresponding to at least one of a baler planned path which is the baler is expected to follow in the field map, or a baler travel path of at least one baler; define an expected location of at least one bale, on the field map based at least partially on the baler travel signal characterized in that; define at least one windrow on the field map; define a baler traveled path on the field map from the received baler travel signal; switch between an efficiency mode and a compaction mode; generate a steering control signal based at least partially on the expected location of the at least one bale, as a shortest distance control signal when in an efficiency mode and as a compaction avoidance control signal when in a compaction mode, wherein the shortest distance control signal corresponds to a straight-line path from the bale retriever to the expected location of the at least one bale that does not cross the at least one windrow and the compaction avoidance control signal corresponds to a path from the bale retriever to the expected location of the at least one bale that overlaps the baler traveled path; and output the steering control signal to the steering assembly. receive a field signal corresponding to a field map; receive a baler travel signal corresponding to at least one of a baler planned path which is the baler is expected to follow in the field map, or a baler travel path of at least one baler; define an expected location of at least one bale, on the field map based at least partially on the baler travel signal characterized in that; define at least one windrow on the field map; define a baler traveled path on the field map from the received baler travel signal; switch between an efficiency mode and a compaction mode; generate a steering control signal based at least partially on the expected location of the at least one bale, as a shortest distance control signal when in an efficiency mode and as a compaction avoidance control signal when in a compaction mode, wherein the shortest distance control signal corresponds to a straight-line path from the bale retriever to the expected location of the at least one bale that does not cross the at least one windrow and the compaction avoidance control signal corresponds to a path from the bale retriever to the expected location of the at least one bale that overlaps the baler traveled path; and output the steering control signal to the steering assembly.