Another beautiful day today, and even though I wasn't able to crimp the hay, it was about dry enough to bale, so I pulled my "new" New Holland Hayliner 68 out of the shed and gave it a thorough going-over with the grease gun, and put fresh twine in it. Note that this is a baler I just bought for $50, and is virtually identical to the model 68 I already had - couldn't pass up the deal, and this unit was in much better condition than my other one.
Now, every time someone asks whether you can bale with an 8N, the responses usually fall into one of two camps - those who say they have baled 10,000+ bales with an N, and those who say "ain't never gonna happen." Well, here's photo proof you can do it (note that I'm even pulling a hay rack), but I will have to qualify this by stating: A) I'm on very level ground, B) I'm running a relatively small baler, and, C) I had pretty light windrows. 
In a few spots with heavier windrows, it was really working the tractor, and as I do have a slight incline at the north end of the field, I would say I was really pushing it climbing the hill with an almost-full rack. In other words, it will work, but if you're on anything but very gentle slopes, you're pushing the limits of an 8N. I could have drop-baled the field and probably been just fine, though. 
At any rate, folks will probably continue to disagree, and that's fine - YMMV, as they say. My boys and I had a blast doing it, and it was also a milestone, as this was the first time I've done the whole job by myself, with my own equipment. Hope this is helpful to anyone considering using an N to bale hay... es
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