In the 1940s, Quill lived at Ferney House in Blackrock, Cork, where he grew vegetables and kept livestock. His first trial of Holstein Friesian cattle took place here, and he owned what "The Southern Star" described as "one of the largest and most successful herds in the country". He was used as an example in an 1950s advertisement titled "Friesian T.T Herd Makes History", and served as the honorary secretary of the Irish Friesian Society. He served on the General Committee of the Munster Agricultural Society, wrote a farming column for "The Cork Examiner" and contributed to the "The Evening Echo" under the pen name Carrigeen.By the 1950s he had settled at a property near Blarney, left politics and was Chair of the Blarney National Farmer's Association. According to the "Irish Independent", Quill was the Chair of the Federation of Cow Testing Associations. He was also on the Committee of the Irish Landrace Pig Society.