We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rebeka Halbert. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rebeka below.
Rebeka, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Ever since I can remember I have always wanted a farm. I love animals but grew up in Hawaii. My family rented and we were never allowed to have pets. That didn’t stop me from bringing home every stray animal I found! When I wasn’t bringing home stray and injured animals I spent my time drawing farm plans. I imagined having the Noah’s Ark of Farm animals. Two of each kind in neat little pens and everyone got along. When I started college I still had a love for animals and was going to school to become a veterinarian.
While in college I worked as a Veterinarian Technician. It was there that I got some very good advice from the Doctors. They said if you really love animals do not become a veterinarian. As a vet, your business depends on your customers and unfortunately some people may not have the money or want to do what is recommended for their pets or livestock. So if I became a vet and wanted to help all the animals, I would never be able to make a living, plus all the student load debt. They recommended getting a job that pays well so you can have money to take care of the animals the way you want. I switch degrees to software engineering and worked as a software developer.
During my software development career I was able to write an app to help animals during the gulf coast oil spill. That was pretty rewarding and an unexpected overlap between my career and my passion.
In 2008, I moved to Texas and was able to start taking horse riding lessons and purchased my first horse. I boarded my horse at barn and learned how to ride and take care of such a large animal. Then in 2013, the barn was being sold and I had to find a place for my horse to move to. Luckily just down the road there was a perfect 10 acre place.
My dad who had just retired was dreaming of going back to a farm, his happiest childhood memories were growing up on the farm in upstate New York. He was looking for a farm in New York when I proposed to idea of him coming to Texas instead and he said yes!
We purchased the 10 acres that came with a house and a separate 2 bedroom apartment for my dad. We had to build the horse shelters first and worked on fencing the property in. Next of course we needed to get chickens. My dad and I designed a nice big coop and got a flock of chickens.
The next addition was two Kunekune pigs. I was never a pig fan but thought I should get pigs before cows since I was a new farmer. Once we got the pigs we fell in love with them. They are the sweetest, loving, silly, and smart animals we have ever met. We currently have 18 females and 9 boars. Two of the girls even live in the house! Originally we thought we would sell pork but after getting to know them and being able to offer farm tours through airbnb experiences it has allowed the pigs to “work” for their keep and they don’t ever have to become food.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Halbert Farm was originally me, Rebeka Halbert and my dad Dennis Halbert. My dad did most of the farm work and I ran the business side. My dad got a rare blood cancer called Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in 2020 and my boyfriend Josh started helping out more with the Farm. In 2021, Josh quit his job to do the farm full-time. It was a risky and hard decision but one we don’t regret. Josh does all the farm tours and spends his days with the animals. He was a city boy that has turned country and is living the dream. I work from home still in the IT industry which helps financially while we continue to grow and invest into the farm.
We set ourselves apart from other breeders by offering things like a one year health guarantee. A seven day 100% money back trail period just in case anyone gets home with a piglet and realizes it was not the right animal for them. We also offer a forever home guarantee. If for some reason a person can no longer take care of their pig, they will always have a home at Halbert Farm. We believe in making sure our pigs find the best homes possible.
We are also active in the community, allowing students to come learn how to show pigs and chickens. Showing our Kunekunes also means we continue to improve the breed and care about quality over quantity. We have earned a champion in each of the shows we have entered. Our chickens are also always in the top placings.
We focus on rare and endangered heritage breeds. Kunekune pigs, Salmon Faverolle chickens, and Zebu cows. We have a love for animals and love to share that with the community. On our farm tours we educate people on the history, care, and stories of each of our animals.
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
We have an Etsy store! Our friend Michelle has drawn a bunch of cute pictures of our pigs and we have turned those into stickers, t-shirts, we have a very popular mug, and we even have pillows! Most of our items are done by on demand print vendors that shop directly to the customer. The nice thing about this is, we do not have to worry about inventory and everything is created as needed.
However, the prices are high. We use printful and printify. Printify seems to up their shipping charges constantly and it’s almost a full-time job keeping up with the updates and making sure we are still making a profit. I just started using Printful to see if I can replace Printify but its a lot of work to get the designs changed over and double check the quality is the same.
Another con would be trying to find people to create designs. I’ve used fivver with no real luck. I am not “artsy” so I really need someone to help create cute products that people would be interested in buying.
We make sure all profits go straight back to the animals. We use the money to help with vet bills, feed, and shelters.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
The best source of new clients for us is our website, we do not do any advertising or selling on Facebook. It’s against Facebook policy to sell animals, so we abide by those rules. Facebook is also inundated with people trying to sell animals. I created our website and its important to maintain your blog. This help google and other search engines find you and recommend you when people are searching for farms and breeders. It’s also important to “claim your business” with Google, so you show up on google maps. This has its pros and cons. One people searching on the map for farms, pigs, etc will see my location and phone number. We get a lot of phone calls just from google maps. The downside is people actually show up at our house thinking they can just come hang out on a farm. Another strange thing that happens, is google recommends us when someone searches for a petting zoo. I’ve tried everything to block us from coming up in search results for that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.halbertfarm.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/halbertfarm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HalbertFarm/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/halbert-farm-kunekune-pigs/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HalbertFarm
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@halbertfarm
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/halbert-farm-kunekune-pigs-burleson
- Other: https://www.twitch.tv/halbertfarm
Image Credits
Rebeka Halbert