A day in the life of the Ransom Family

AVALON, Wis. – At the Ransom farm, cows and mechanics are a side-by-side passion. John Ransom tends to the herd while his son, Tyler, runs the on-farm repair shop. John’s Repair Service specializes in tire replacement and heavy-duty mechanics. As a result, there is never a dull moment on the farm.  
“There are people coming and going all the time for the repair business,” Ransom said. “For 38 years, I fixed all kinds of trucks and tractors. The shop helped sustain the farm. I wouldn’t have made it on 28 cows. But, now Tyler does it all. I still help him out once in a while.”
Ransom began his day Sept. 27 at 4:30 by mixing feed and feeding cows and heifers. Following that, he scraped the freestall barn and brought the first group of cows into the 28-stall stanchion barn to start milking at 7. His sidekick – a 1-year-old black Labrador named Ally – observed milking from one end of the barn where she waited patiently for a few sips of leftover milk.
“My family has been milking in Bradford Township since 1858,” said Ransom, who milks 32 cows and farms 90 acres near Avalon. “My grandsons are the seventh generation.”
Sparked by a love for fast cars, Ransom started his repair business in 1982. This self-taught mechanic added onto his shop in 2000 to fit semis into the structure.
“In high school, I had no time for sports, so I started making cars go fast,” he said. “I still have my ’55 Chevy that I bought in 1978.”
A neighbor with a fleet of milk trucks took a liking to Ransom’s work and told him, “If you’re smart enough to make cars go fast, you’re smart enough to fix my stuff.”
The repair shop operates as a separate LLC from the farm. Tyler works on semis, tractors, loaders, combines, trucks and cars. He fixes transmissions, clutches, hydraulics, power take-offs and more. He also replaces tires on anything and everything.
Tyler grew up with tools in his hands, learning the trade alongside his dad. On the last Tuesday in September, Tyler was busy working on a truck transmission, replacing fuel tanks in a semi as well as a clutch in another semi.
Up until four years ago, Tyler helped in the barn. He used to milk until he developed an allergy to cows. He started breaking out in hives accompanied by a runny nose and watery eyes and could not breathe well in the barn. Tests confirmed the avid deer hunter was allergic to cows as well as deer.
“He was miserable, so I told him, ‘You run the shop, and I’ll milk the cows,’” Ransom said. “Mechanics is a young guy’s sport anyways. I can still do it, but it’s easier for Tyler than it is for me. He took over the shop and runs a tremendous business – better than I did.”
Ransom switched four cows into the barn at 8:15 and finished milking around 8:30. Cows are housed and fed in a freestall barn that contains 48 stalls filled with deep sand bedding.
“Cows are so much healthier, happier and cleaner in the freestall barn,” Ransom said.
After milking, he let the cows out of the barn and walked them back to the freestall facility. He scraped the floor of the stanchion barn and tidied up a bit before switching the acid tank over in the milkhouse. At 9:15, Ransom fed the only calf currently on milk.
“We’ve had a string of bulls lately, so this is my only heifer right now,” he said. “I sell all of my bull calves a couple days after they’re born.”
Family is important to this grandfather of five, who misses farming with his own father. Tyler has two sons – Max and Axel, and Ransom’s daughter, Holly, has three kids – Ashley, Adam and Aiden. Thirteen-year-old Max helps milk in the evenings when he is not playing football, and 13-year-old Aiden helps with feeding and other chores. Dylan Williamson, who Ransom said is also like a grandson to him, helps with fieldwork and milking once in a while as well.
“My dad has been gone 22 years,” Ransom said. “I farmed with him my whole life. He milked cows with me the morning he died. He had a heart attack while walking into church. We all have bad hearts in our family.”
Two years ago, Ransom suffered a massive heart attack.
“I wasn’t feeling right when I climbed up in the tractor,” he said. “I remember thinking, ‘I feel like I’m going to die.’”
Doctors put a stent in his heart, and Ransom was diligent about attending cardiac rehab. Now, the 60-year-old farmer does his best to eat right and exercise to hopefully avoid future problems.
Ransom is fortunate to have two longtime friends who regularly help him on the farm – Mike Veley and Jerry Tremaine.
“I’ve been truly blessed with friends,” Ransom said. “Without Mike and Jerry, I’d have to quit or hire people. They help with every project.”
Another friend Ransom greatly valued but who has since passed away is Dave Thiele.
“Dave helped me build everything that’s here,” Ransom said.
The milkman came at 10:05, and a tire delivery rolled in at 10:15. Shortly after, Tyler drove the semi he would be working on that day into the shop. Ransom guided him in to help get the vehicle loaded correctly onto the ramps. They then discussed some of the repairs Tyler would be making that day and took a look at the truck needing a new transmission.
“I used to be on the road all the time grabbing parts, but everybody delivers now,” Ransom said.
When Ransom has spare time, a cabin in the woods next to the farm serves as his retreat.
“It’s been my dream my whole life to have woods, a pond and a cabin,” said Ransom, who built his cabin from scratch, laying the building’s stone front by hand. “It’s my getaway.”
At 11:30, Ransom went to spread manure. After hauling two loads out of the pit, he took a break for lunch. Ransom mowed fifth crop hay down the previous day and was planning to take the corn chopper off the tractor and put the hay chopper on to possibly chop the next day.
“That’s maybe only the second time in my life I’ve done fifth crop, but it was getting so tall,” he said. “I think it’ll be a good crop.”  
In the afternoon, he and Veley switched out choppers and moved a couple tractors around. Then, it was chore time once again. Ransom milks earlier in the evenings and started around 5:15 that day, finishing all his work by 6:45. Tyler is a night owl and completed his workday in the shop around 10 p.m.
Both businesses hummed along smoothly all day, and at night, all was quiet until the next sunrise that would bring about another busy day of farm work and repairs.