I started cutting hay with a 7 ft sickle mower with a wooden pitman over 50 years ago. The cutting part wasn't the problem, the raking was, odd shaped fields, 9 corners and everyone of them sharp. You left as much rayon the ground as I put in a cow, the only thing that saved it was turning the cows in for a few days to clean up the leftovers.
Hay baling has got nearly to the same point as epd's in cattle, always trying to figure out numbers to make better cattle.
You put the hay on the ground, shake it as little as possible, ( I know for sure that leaves feed value in the field) and put it in a bale as quick as possible, hopefully with out water falling on it. The quality is usually in direct relation to the size of the thunder head on the horizon, and not much else other than a broken machine.