20 Quotes From IL Farmers

September 19, 2022
A poster that says we live our lives by the seeds of our plants

We know how many hats farmers wear but do you? Agronomist, mechanic, economist, teacher, communicator, advocator, supervisor, environmentalist, veterinarian, entrepreneur are just some (and that doesn’t include farmers with other outside jobs). Today we are adding another to the list: Quotemaster. Here are 20 sayings we grabbed from farmers in Illinois.

  1. Wow, that’s so early the chickens aren’t even up yet
  2. You could tear up a bulldozer
  3. We’re burning daylight 
  4. That pig went through there like a dose of epsom salts through the hired boy
  5. Plant in the dust and your bins will bust
  6. Rain makes grain
  7. Those beans are popping
  8. Looking for the bats
  9. Farming is not all cows, sows and plows
  10. Ma is callin, dinner is ready
  11. I’ve done more this morning than you’ll do all week
  12. That dog’ll hunt
  13. Back when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, we only got one inch
  14. Pray for rain, but pay for crop insurance
  15. When someone slept in, “What happened? Your bed break down?”
  16. Complaint department’s on the roof and the elevator’s broke
  17. Ain’t nothin but a wheat whacker
  18. Ofcourse I talk to myself. Sometimes I need expert advice
  19. You can’t get finished what you don’t get started
  20. We live our lives by the seeds of our plants
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