like Soap's post on fads, some times things evolve.
When I was a kid I remember Dad on the phone in the morning and evening trying to find a hay crew for the next day or that day. He get together a couple scatter rake drives to handle the teams, a sweep or buck rake driver to dire the turned around tractor, Dad ran the farm hand built on a turned around truck frame. There were a couple guys mowing hay on old tricycle tractors, a group of 4-5 guys on top of the haystack with forks moving and tromping the hay. Mom was home fixing a big lunch. Alfalfa hay was baled a wagon behind the baler a guy shuttling wagons, and a crew stacking. Some times bales dropped on the ground and bales bucked.
The loose hay was loaded with a Jackson fork onto a sleigh with a team come winter.
Then the meadows started to get baled, a slip was used to move the small bales to the stack yard. Swathers were getting bigger up to a 12 foot cut.
Then we got a New Holland 1010 stack wagon, was easier to run with 2 people , one riding on the loader pushing bales, it would also unload one at a time onto a elevator.... every empty
building became a hay shed.
Then a 14 foot swather and a 1032 bale wagon, a couple less people.
Then back to a 12 foot swather with out an auger, two self propelled balers and a super 1049 stack liner. Brother swathed mom and dad baled and I hauled and stacked bales. Still using a team and sleigh to feed.
Now a rotary or disc swather 15 foot head, a V rake, a round baler , tractor , pulling 5th wheel and long wagons... and only me putting up the same hay that used to take a 8-10 man crew.
fed with a team and sleigh but used a tractor to load those round bales, used a chain saw to cut them or a old stack cutting hand saw. Dad got so he couldn't help sold the team bought a spinner. Yeah miss the team, miss the slim belly, don't miss the bad knees and back. Plus no mittens to drive the tractor, lighter coat, and get the feeding done faster.