Milking camels- great medicine and great pay?

Aloha,
I have been thinking about investing in a couple of camels. My brother is on the autism spectrum. I have read that it can help heal a lot of gastrointestinal issues. It is closest to breast milk. It is easy to digest. Camels milk is pretty expensive. I was wondering why more people are not milking camels in the west?
I see camels milk as an opportunity to help heal a large portion of the population while making a lil bit of money. How dangerous are camels really? Haha.

There is a camel dairy in Ramona California. check out cameldairy.com I saw it with my own eyes, but didnt stop to visit. Those camels sure arent small!

I am a cow dairy farmer. Dont envy them one bit! Camels might have sweet milk, but their temperments not so much. Having been kicked by a few cows, I cant really imagine the fun of being kicked by an animal the size of a camel.

If I lived in a desert completely ill suited to any other mammal, well, then I might milk a camel. Probably I'd move somewhere more conducive to prosperity though.

One thing for sure, nobody gonna make big money milking camels. No chance. Do it for the passion, or the novelty, or whatever. But it is not going to be a big money maker at all.
Raw cows milk, sheeps milk, and goats milk from pasture fed animals are all pretty stunning superfoods with tremendous digestive benefits. Camel milk might be as magic as unicorn milk, but I would start with something a bit more accessable, economical, and prooven to cut your dairy teeth on.

I read somewhere that camels can produce 5 liters a day. I looked online and found powdered camels milk for sale. It is $99 for 420 grams or about 21 cups of milk.
Powdered camels milk is not medicinal. Raw camels milk is extremely medicinal. Especially for people who can't digest e Caisiens that are found in cow, sheep, and goats milk.
I can't imagine how expensive local raw organic camels milk could sell for. Especially since the medicinal dose can be only 2-3 oz.

I appreciate your opinion but I still think camels milk has a future.
I was also reading that if you raise the camel you plan to milk yourself it will be gentle.

How about donkeys milk?
I was reading it is also very close nutritionally to humans milk.
Are donkeys easy to milk?
How much milk do they produce?

Howdy Luna, I just watched a couple of youtube videos about milking camels. I had no idea!
In one episode of that "dirtiest jobs" tv show, the farmers said that the camels could only be milked for 90 seconds at a time. Ever heard of that?

Hahahaha oh I have not. Did they say why?

I would love to see these videos

@ Luna,
I lived in Turkey. Camels were fairly common there. I watched caravan men struggle with camels the raised and lived with every hour of the day. If pros whose family have raised camels for CENTURIES struggle with these animals; I think you may be way, way out of your league. Camels are not Alpacas; not even llamas. I have been around all three...I own Alpacas. Recently, someone locally was trying to unload their male camel on Craigslist...My thought was, "good luck! you could not give it to me for free! lol". You want to own a breeding pair...and, MILK one?! My first question is what animals have you milked currently? If none, do not buy any camels or donkeys to start with...it would be sheer folly, a waste of money and animals in need of rehoming with few options to do so.

Article on commercial camel dairy in Saudi Arabia:

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/dubai-camel-milk-firm-see-100-growth-in-year-508895.html

Ahoy!

I hadn't even considered camel or camel milk. Now I'm curious, intrigued, and thinking. I have had some occasion to interact with them and they can certainly be stubborn, ill tempered, and noisy - but really I couldn't blame them. They seemed pretty docile though. has anyone ever heard of anyone getting kicked by a camel? Or trampled to death? without someone riding on it that is.

Also don't camels have a great big split pad like hoof? I've never encountered a camel wearing shoes. It seems like they might be perfect for riding on hot asphalt.
Does anyone know what a camel eats? how much of it? They are big critters. And well adapted to harsh climates. Of course if you're in the america's your talking about introducing an animal type never seen in the new world or certainly not since well before the holocene die off.

There's a certain poetic justice in the fantasy of replacing the automobile with the camel. Those saudi's could keep making their money and it would cut central asia in too.

Of course you'd need a garage for your camel. Since they are large and somewhat lacking in what the broad market would consider cuddly appeal

Sorry total digression. I just think its an interesting idea. Camels. Right On! Why don't more people have discussions about camels.

I agree, camels aren't a viable starter animal for a new milker!

There are bactrian two-humped camels in one part of Ladakh here. They were stranded when the Central Asian trade was cut off around 1947 and 1949. People used to use them for carrying stuff a bit, but now that trucks can do the big stuff and donkeys are easier for the small stuff, they seem to be more or less unused. There is a big forest of vicious seabuckthorn and they are generally turned loose to forage in there most of the year. Nowadays people use their camels for tourist rides: very lucrative. These Bactrian camels are native to Central Asia, with cold winters and hot summers, in a dry climate.

Anyway, these camels are huge animals but not as big as the one-humped camels in the rest of India. They must eat a prodigious amount at that size! Yes, they have pads for feet, and were used over hot deserts, but they were not used over snowy passes and the goods were transferred to yaks and horses for the last part of the journey, a high pass.

So other that finding out way more about camels that I knew 6 weeks ago I'm going to continue on that "Camels for Cars" tear for a second here even though it seems that high mountain passes or steep sloped paths. I wonder if Camels may indeed be "great pay" for someone somewhere.

They'd eat brush and brambles and blackberries. They'd be well suited to the north American south west and southern plains on or off road. You can milk them. I'd think they'd be worth at least a thousand dollars to a breeder or stock raiser combating desertification in the Aral Sea region, for instance. What would be an alternative mode of biological transport? The horse? That's an introduced species here in north America. It seems to have done quite well in some regions.

Of course then your camels would start eating your various cacti variety and you'd have a bunch of "Camels on Cactus" on your hands

That'd great band name. Wouldn't it?

It'd be quite the learning curve. Camels.

Every time I saw Bedouin camel train in the middle east they always has milk goats with them.

Interesting. Would that imply that camels alone are not enough to survive on for desert nomads. Or is that just my convoluted take?

I thought it might just be a taste thing. I can't recall ever seeing anything but goat or cow milk in my three years in Iraq. However, I did once try cream from a water buffalo and it was Awesome!!

Chalk another point up for the camels. Camels are apparently the low emission livestock making them less dangerous as far as the amount of greenhouse gases they release.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/11/dont-blame-camels-for-global-warming-climate

hmm Have to say this is of great interest to us. We've lactose intolerant, caesien-ess, gluten-ites, dairy allergies and autistics in this household. Might be worth looking into just for personal use.
And the fact it is so sweet that it makes sugarless goodies (processed sugar) makes it a plus.