Had to be a ruse. I own a 568 John deere round baler. I know the mechanism is different for a round vs. a square baler, but either way, survival would approach 0. Just the tying mechism would have been a killer. It had to be a ruse.
Balers or anything with a PTO shaft have killed and maimed many. My uncle told me of a guy he knew who lost his dignity and luckily nothing else when a shaft driving a baler caught his overalls and took them and he was left with his underwear.