Red, White & Belews Farm

With a patriotic name, Red, White & Belews Farm features chickens, ducks, llamas and goats. The farm was started after Rebecca and Jason Meyer were married three years ago on the Fourth of July and purchased land in Belews Creek.
“We purchased the land three years ago,” said Rebecca. “It used to be a tobacco farm and when we purchased it, there were old buildings on the property.”
When they first started out, Jason said they got some ducks as pets and the farm has slowly grown since.
“We have a pond and the goal was to put the ducks on the pond, but they never really made it,” he said. “We took them down there one day and they were afraid and ran back to the house and we’ve been protective of them as well.”
After they got the ducks, Rebecca and Jason said they got the goats.
“We have 27 acres and 19 of that is wooded. The goats have really helped clean up the property, which is why we initially got them,” Jason said.
“They’re all named after country music singers,” Rebecca added.
The goats include Johnny, June, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dolly, Reba, Patsy Cline, Naomi, Wynonna and Waylon.
“They are all dairy goats (Nigerian Dwarfs) and earlier this year, two of our goats had kids, which allowed us to milk them for roughly four months,” Rebecca said, noting that with the milk they made soap and cheese. “We sold a lot of the milk, but we still have a lot of soap, which is both scented and unscented. We have some of them for sale on Etsy.”
Rebecca explained that goat milk has a really high butter fat content, which is why it’s so good for making cheese.
“It also tastes really rich,” Jason added.
Rebecca explained that one of Wynonna’s kids, which they named number three so they wouldn’t get attached, had to go to work with her at Emergency Responders Credit Union one day because Wynonna wasn’t producing enough milk for all of her kids.
“My co-workers loved it,” she said.
Jason noted that they will eventually also breed the goats to sell.
Although they like all of their goats and enjoy sitting out listening to the sounds they make and watching them jump around, they each have a favorite.
Rebecca said her favorite is Jerry, while Jason said his favorite is Patsy.
After the goats, Jason and Rebecca decided to get chickens for their eggs, while also still consuming the duck eggs. The breed of chicken they chose are White Leghorn.
Rebecca said they chose White Leghorn chickens because they lay white eggs and are easy to care for.
“We let them free range when we’re home,” she said. “They are great at eating mosquitos and ticks.”
After losing some of their ducks to a fox, Rebecca and Jason purchased two llamas.
“After we had some casualties with our ducks from some fox, we decided to get some llamas,” Jason said. “Llamas are herd protectors used to scare away other animals.”
Jason said they chose to go with llamas instead of donkeys because they are better with goat kids.
“Llamas have a more nurturing personality,” he said.
Although they didn’t have time to figure out what to do with the llama’s fur last year, Jason said they may look into doing something with it in the future.
Not long after Rebecca and Jason got their llamas, Rebecca said one of them spit on her, so she hasn’t really fallen in love with them.
“They’ve gotten used to us now, and they are good at what they do,” she said.
Jason and Rebecca also have a vegetable garden. This year, they are growing corn, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, jalapenos, and cantaloupe.
“Last year, Rebecca pickled 120 pints of cucumbers that we sold and made 50 – 60 pints of both salsa and pasta sauce,” Jason said.
Jason and Rebecca said they love living on a farm.
“I love the animals, bonding with them and taking care of them,” she said.
“I love the work. I like that accomplished feeling at the end of the day – the manual aspect of it,” Jason said.
Now with animals on their farm, Rebecca and Jason will be adding two new kids to the bunch, though these (twins) are not the goat type.