https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7X17KMRMrg" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7X17KMRMrg

 As danwi pointed out, that is an awesome video of Allis stuff at work baling hay!  The big wide tires on the 7040 looks good and the loader on the front is super fine.  The wide canopy on the 7580 looks like a good idea especially with the light bars mounted underneath although I wonder what it is made of?  Watching him stack those two big bales at the same time is super impressive.  That's why it is nice to have a big, heavy high HP tractor to do that.  Looks they have an impressive hay operation.  The only thing I saw odd was that the hesston left a lot of hay in the field.  Not sure if it was the pickup tines, the speed or maybe the 7580 was running over the hay.  It was a little more brown looking than I would want it to be and maybe it was a little too dry due to weather.  I saw the hay rolling in front of the baler which is indicative of a little to dry hay and maybe why it left some behind.  I have been there and done that.  I really, really liked the the double rotary rakes on the D19!  Wish I had that setup!  I do wonder how many acres they do?  That setup should allow them to do a bunch, for sure.  Someone had a nice drone out taking the photos too.

Thanks for sharing!

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Rotary rakes I've seen seem to beat off many leaves compared to older roller bar styles.

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I think it is one of those hard tonneau covers that people put on pickup trucks.. Spoiler and all.

You must be looking at different rotary rakes than most. That's the main benefit of rotary rakes: Much, much, much gentler handling of your leafy legumes. You don't get a good idea from watching Youtube videos. Once you try one in person, you'll realize how much gentler they are on leaves and how much faster your windrow dries. I'll never go back to a rolabar or wheel rake after having now bought a rotary.

This is a huge alfalfa and dairy region around here, so leaf retention is critical and all the big operators are focused on it. Everyone's going to rotary rakes for their alfalfa, except a few operators with 30+ foot wide wheel rakes who use wheel rakes just because they can cover so much ground. Old rolabars like the NH 256's are worth nothing around here: There's a beautiful 256 in mint condition for sale near me I drive by every day going to work. He's trying to get something like $1100 for it. Despite the huge number of haying operations around here, it hasn't sold in the past year, and I doubt it will ever sell for that price. Any rolabar rake at auction around here goes for $300 at most, regardless of condition.