A few wild cows and a big dream started the Little Acres Farm. Then, five years ago, the dream became a nightmare when a fire destroyed its meat plant and dairy barn.
Now the meat plant near Byron is back — rebuilt after five years of setbacks, with room for a bigger farm-to-table dream.
Rebekah and Martin Bates bought an old dairy farm in 2002 that had been defunct for nearly 30 years. They added meat processing to their business model in 2006, starting in a leased shop in Byron before moving the operation to their farm in 2010.
Up In Smoke
In February 2021, a fire destroyed both facilities, which were under one roof.
“A few of my kids were outside, getting ready to do chores and saw smoke coming out at the meat plant,” Rebekah told Cowboy State Daily. “So by the time the fire department came, there was just no saving it. We lost the whole thing.”
The family had been expanding the facility and was still trying to secure insurance at the time.
“It’s very difficult to get insurance on meat plants, especially because ours was joined,” Rebekah said. “We had our dairy barn at the other end. So because it was connected, that made it harder for people to want to insure it.”
Investigators told Bates circumstances around the fire raised suspicions, but its cause was never determined and foul play was never proven.
Bates won’t say her operation was targeted, but she noticed other meat plants burning down around the same time.
“Three weeks after ours burnt down, there was one in Roberts, Montana, that also burnt down,” she said. “They lost their house and everything.”
On the advice of a sheriff’s deputy, the Bates family installed security cameras to the property.
But cameras didn’t solve the immediate problem. They’d lost two business facilities, with no insurance payout to help them rebuild.
A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Their comeback took five years — much longer than the couple imagined.
It was a series of unfortunate events.
Without insurance money, the Bates began rebuilding a little at a time. About three months after the fire, they started getting fire-resistant building blocks and pouring footings.
Around that time, an investor stepped forward to help them rebuild.
Then came another blow.
The family contracted with a man to supply more fire-resistant blocks for their new plant. Instead, Rebekah said the man took their money and used their blocks to build himself a fire-resistant Airbnb.
The dispute remains unresolved in civil court.
“We could either put the money into fighting that in court, or we could put money into the meat plant,” Rebekah said.
They chose the meat plant.
Couldn’t Leave Them Hanging
Martin’s construction business kept the family going. It also provided work for Jason Short, who had joined Little Acres about a year before the fire to manage the meat plant.
Short had just quit a construction job with good pay to become the meat-plant manager.
Even though he was no longer working in construction, he decided to stay and help the family rebuild.
“These people have been like family to me,” he said. “I couldn’t leave them hanging.”
Money ran short throughout the five-year period, Short said. So did materials and people to help.
It was “one blow after another.”
“I don’t know why it was so hard,” he said. “They kept saying, 'We’ll get it going. We’ll get it going.' And I kept holding onto that hope.”
Finally, the project gained momentum in May 2025, when an acquaintance connected the family with another investor. With their own labor and additional financing from Farm Credit Services, the Bates were finally able to finish the plant.
“It was a hard comeback,” Rebekah said. “But we’re back, and we are cutting meat again.”
Back To Cutting Meat
Business is already picking up, Short said. He said he believes the plant will soon return to the same production level they had before the fire, when they had five employees.
“We were cutting three beef a day and three or four pigs a day,” he said.
The facility, meanwhile, is not just bigger, but better, Rebekah said.
Starting from scratch allowed the family to rethink the layout. The plant now has two cutting floors, two coolers and a huge freezer, allowing the crew to process wild game while continuing to cut domestic livestock.
For now, the plant operates under a custom exemption. Rebekah said the plant is taking the steps needed to obtain state inspection, which would allow producers to sell meat processed there within Wyoming. She hopes to complete that process within about a month.
The family also plans to add chicken and turkey processing. The space is there, Rebekah said, but buying equipment will depend on business growth and financing.
The dairy cows are still being milked in a small shelter. A larger dairy barn and processing facility next to the meat plant remain part of the family’s future plans.
For Short, the reopened plant means finally returning to the work for which he stayed for five years hoping to resume.
“I’m finally doing what I want to do and what I enjoy doing,” he said.
Contact Renee Jean at renee@cowboystatedaily.com
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
