Behavior
Fairly placid animals: no aggressive reactions.
Dromedaries may want to be impressive in front of humans.
Strong, imposing animals: can carry up to 350 kg.
Main dangers: biting / hitting / jostling.
A male expresses reproductive male behavior at 7-8 years. Intimidation: swelling of the soft palate, vocalizations. He can be violent and brutal during the rut. Camels respect the dominant male.
Females in heat can be aggressive and dominant.
Males can play a moderating role in conflicts and intervene.
Separate animals according to their status (lactation, pregnancy, males, growing young, maternity).
Training
Training begins at an early age, with camels.
Be particularly careful with camels bottle-fed by humans: as adults, camels see humans as rivals and can be particularly aggressive.
Stroke and respect the camel, but avoid playing with it, so that it respects you in turn.
The right attitude
 Be present in front of the animal: avoid running away, stay upright and face-on, raise your arm in the air to assert yourself.
 Don’t crouch.
 Be relaxed.
 Use gentle movements.
 Approach camels from the sides, never from the front.
Equipment required for handling
 Halter.
 Lead rope.
 Muzzle for breeding males.
 Some use a nose ring for breeding males.
Riding
 Start training for breeding: from age 3.
 Allow up to 3 years for training.
 Animals must be groomed before mounting.
Feeding
 The camel is a pseudo-ruminant, with 3 stomachs.
 Intake capacity of around 1.9 kg per 100 kg live weight.
 Eats very fibrous forage: high cellulolytic activity in the rumen.
 Needs good quality protein for milk synthesis.
 Low water requirements of around 80 ml/kg/d.
 Very good pH buffering capacity in the stomach, making it less prone to metabolic disorders than other herbivores.
 High absorption capacity for volatile fatty acids.
 Low urinary excretion and high urea reuse efficiency: low nitrogen requirements.
 No ketone bodies are produced during fat mobilization, so it cannot develop acetonemia.
Average weight
Animal Young 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years Adult female Adult male
Live weight (kg) 70/80 140/160 230/250 430/450 550/600 700/750

Daily camel food
Forage
 They can be very fibrous.
 They may contain quality proteins, as in the case of alfalfa, for example.
Production nitrogen supplements
 Supplements that are not too rich in nitrogen.
 Mineral and vitamin supplements
 Salt at will in lickable blocks or granules.
 Camel’s Star. Vitamins. Trace elements. Other minerals depending on soil deficiencies: selenium.
Camel need in lactation
 Basal diet: alfalfa hay, grass and straw (1-2 kg), sorghum, etc.
 3 to 5 kg market concentrates (15-18% TP) or barley, depending on production level.
Two-step lactating camel ration
 4 kg oat hay in the morning, 5 kg alfalfa hay in the afternoon.
 In season, 8 kg of green alfalfa at 15-25% DM can be added.
 100 g per day Camel’s Star.
Precautionary measure
 Rapid fattening can lead to infertility.
 Tendency to overfeed naturally.
 High salt requirements: 20 g/100 kg body weight.
 Risk of alkalosis (blood-breathing) and hyperuremia (blood acid) if ration rich in nitrogen.
 Urea poisoning from molasses/urea blocks.
 Fermented foods could deteriorate milk quality.
 Wheat-type cereals favor acidosis if animals have low requirements.
 Excessive water consumption may cause diarrhoea.
Breeding
 Breeding begins between 3 and 6 years of age.
 Mating season: November to April.
 80% of cases: asymptomatic estrus.
 Artificial insemination.
 Ovulation provocation.
 Embryo transfer possible.
Spawning

• 1 or 2 reproducers for 30 females (for safety, it is preferable to have 2).
• In rut: aggressive male, soft palate protruding from mouth and occipital glands secrete dark liquid.
• Duration of mating: 7 – 35 minutes, on average 15 minutes, up to 50 minutes.
• Natural spawning in pasture or stalls possible.
• Controlled mating: female isolated, forelegs (or even hindlegs) shackled, male led to female, operation repeated once a day for 2 to 3 days.
  Gestation – whelping
   Gestation period averages 12.5 months.
   Always use gloves when handling runts.
   Less than 5% dystocic grooming.
   Twins extremely rare (<1%).
  Diagnosis
   Positive when the female raises her tail in the presence of the male (hand-walking with a man). 90% reliable.
   Rectal palpation of the left uterine horn: from 6 to 8 weeks.
   Ultrasound: from 20 days of gestation.
   Progesterone: positive if 2 samples 15 days apart above 2ng/ml (blood test).
  Anomalies
   Early embryonic mortality (<3 months) often goes unnoticed: up to 10% of animals.
   Abortion (<11 months): 2 to 20% depending on the farm. Infectious causes (brucellosis, rift fever).
   Stillbirth: 3 to 10%.
   Gestation
   Fertility: 45.0%.
   Fertility: 45%.
   Duration 12.5 to 13 months.
  Farrowing
   Often takes place in the middle of the day, between 12 and 5 pm.
   A few hours before, the pelvic ligament relaxes and the female isolates herself.
   Less than 5% of dystocic groomings.
   Twins are rare, less than 1%.
   Camel rolls over in 25% of cases.
   Chorioepithelial placenta expelled within one hour. Placenta retention rare.
  Lactation
   Lactation can last from 8-12 months to 16-18 months.
   The level of lactation can be persistent: 16 months after calving, camels may still be at 20% of their production.
   The lactation curve peaks after 3 – 4 months. With a plateau that can last 3 – 4 months.
   A camel’s milk production increases with her lactation rank.
   Seasonality is important: milk production is higher following a winter farrowing.
  Drying
  After a maximum of 9 to 10 months of lactation, camels should be gradually given less feed, in preparation for dry-off. Nitrogen-containing feeds are avoided, leaving only forage. This reduction takes place over one month and leads to a slight drop in camel productivity.
  Breeding triggers dry-off.
  Dry-off can be triggered if the camel rejects her heifel.
  The camel will dry up on its own if it is not solicited.
  If the camel is pregnant, it will dry up after about 3 months without human intervention.
  Chamelon
  Isolate mother and calf in a dedicated farrowing pen to facilitate handling.
  Dry the camel and bring it to the udder to help it drink quickly. Few camels stand up on their own. If the mother refuses the colt, milk her and give the bottle to the colt.
  Disinfect the navel with a solution such as tincture of iodine.
  Chamelon must ingest 1 to 2 liters of colostrum within 12 hours of birth.
  Freeze good-quality colostrum so you can have some on hand if needed.
  Diarrhea is infrequent.
  Body temperature is not a reliable indicator of health.
  Colostrum
   Colostrum must be drunk quickly to allow the transfer of immunity. The chamelon’s digestive tract gradually becomes impermeable to immunoglobulin G (IgG).
   Measuring IgG concentration with a densimeter or reflexometer enables camels to be compared with each other. The minimum reference concentration seems not to be known yet.
   Camels should ingest one to two liters of colostrum.
   Milk and freeze good-quality colostrum in small-volume bags (50 cl). Reheat it in a bain-marie before bottle-feeding.
  Milking
  Camels females
   Very low citernal milk reserve: good stimulation of the animal is required to trigger the milk ejection reflex in order to recover the alveolar milk.
   Very strong maternal bond: need for the camel to be present during milking to ensure sufficient stimulation of the animal (especially at the start of lactation).
   Progressive milking training is essential to ensure that the animals are not stressed and are willing to give milk. It requires mastery of manual milking.
  Before milking
  1) The camel suckles (about 30 seconds) to stimulate the milk ejection reflex.
  2) Extraction of 1st milk jet, evaluation of appearance and detection of any problems.
  3) Cleaning (warm water) and drying of teats with individual wipes.
  Manual milking
  After the preparation phase, you can :
• Separate the camel from its mother and milk all 4 teats manually.
• Leave 1 or 2 teats on the udder and milk the other 2 manually (higher milk production).
  Mechanical milking
  Equipment used
  Milking pot with or without vacuum line, and milking parlour.
  We generally use liners adapted for dairy cows.
  Milking machine settings
  Vacuum level: The most commonly used vacuum level is 48 – 50 kPa (pressure).
  It seems that 38 kPa may be sufficient (to limit the risk of teat aggression), but this requires greater manual pre-stimulation.
  Pulsation frequency: 60 pulses/minute.
  The teat cups should be attached very quickly after stimulation (less than a minute), to prevent the milk flowing down the cistern from flowing back up into the alveoli.
  After milking
   Application of a post-soaking product (iodine solution).
   Distribute feed to prevent animals from lying down.
   Cool milk to 4°C as quickly as possible.
   Cleaning of equipment after each use (alternating between acid and alkaline products).
  Valorization
   Production of pasteurized milk
   Milk powder production
   Production of fermented milk
   Soap production
   Cheese production
   Ice cream production
   Meat production
   Skin production
   Camel hair
  Health and care
  Camels arriving at the kennel must be negative to the following blood tests:
  Brucellosis
  Leucosis
  Varron
  IBR (bovine rhino tracheitis)
  BVD (bovine viral diarrhea)
  Pathology Nutrition
  Indigestion
  Stopped rumination, loss of appetite, salivation, drop in milk production.
  Obesity
  Overweight animal, reduced reproductive and dairy performance.
  Enterotoxemia
  Abatement, abdominal discomfort, anorexia, colic, diarrhea, convulsions.
  Acidosis
  Decreased appetite, cessation of rumination and digestion, drop in butyrous rate.