Joanna Mertz

Joanna Mertz raises Nigerian dwarf dairy goats at AppleJo Farms in Eldon, Missouri, a small community in the Lake of the Ozarks region southeast of Jefferson City. The farm's foundation herd has been assembled from established performance and show lines, including herds such as Old Mountain Farm, Sugar Moon, Rosasharn, Flat Rock's, and Celtic Pride, among others.

Breeding decisions at AppleJo Farms center on dairy correctness, with a particular focus on selecting for strong medial suspensory ligaments, dairy angularity, width, and overall bone structure — traits the farm views as foundational to long-term production reliability in Nigerian dwarf dairy goats for sale in Missouri. The program also pays attention to milk protein genetics; at least one herd sire has undergone DNA testing for Alpha-s1 Casein, a variant linked to higher curd firmness in cheesemaking.

Kids are bottle-raised, which Mertz considers a deliberate husbandry choice rather than a convenience, aiming to produce animals that are comfortable with human handling from an early age. Each kid is disbudded, vaccinated, and registered or registration-ready with the ADGA before leaving the farm.

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