Advertisement
Published: December 17th 2014
Entrance to Dairy Complex
It is a camel dairy with a purple marketing plan...seriously, it is like they jumped into my brain when they created this brand.I remember the morning and evening chores at Shamrock Farms. Grampy opened the gate for the milk cow who was always waiting at the gate. She voluntarily marched into the front stall of the barn like a dutiful employee and wait for Grampy to milk her. Grampy balanced on the tiny T-shaped wooden stool and press his head into her side as he methodically gathered her contribution for the breakfast table. We then carefully took the big silver bucket full of warm milk to the ranch house where Granny would strain most of the cream off the top. That is how we got our milk, and cream for ice cream.
I never enjoyed milking and many times would "accidentally" shoot the milk to the patient audience of cats watching me fumble through through the task. And, if no one was around, I allowed the calf to nurse in excess in an effort to streamline the process. ("He needs the milk more than we do," I would justify.) I showed up at the ranch house with a meager amount and allow the adults to assume the cow was not as cooperative without Grampy at the helm. Yes, the milking chores were
Time to Milk the Camels
This is where the action is! The camels come in as part of a designated group, methodically go into their stall and within 2 minutes, the group is released to return their pen. They move quietly and calmly. better left to the old herdsman, not the impatient child.
This dusty memory shares little in common with the chores at the Camelicious Dairy in the United Arab Emirates. The duties at Camelicious are the kind of chores I could really enjoy (they involve camels, duh!). The dairy is home to 4,200 camels who provide nutrient rich milk daily. The milk is used for sale in grocery stores, making chocolates and making cheese. Consumers want the milk because it is easier to digest, has less fat, is higher in calcium and vitamin C, boosts the immune system and has more vitamins than cow milk. The draw to camel milk is evident in the US too. Last week, I found camel milk in Whole Foods in Kansas City. It cost $20 for 16 ounces!
We have wanted to tour the facility for some time, but it became quite an ordeal to get access. After much fanagling and hoop jumping, we got in! Once inside, it was difficult to see much of the facility, sample the product or gain a great deal of information, but it was well worth the visit. Many things were off limits in the name of
Milk Station
This close-up view is thanks to determination. We were in an unrestricted area--we walked up to see the process and were reminded this was not part of the tour. We were able to stall a bit and linger by using language barrier innocence. "biosecurity".
The biggest tease was the camel nursery. We could see the nursery and all of the adorable little calves, but we were unable to walk near them. We gave them the hard sell, begged and negotiated but found little success. One of the veterinarians took pity on us and was about allow me to go to the nursery when we were stopped by someone with more power. They told me the birth mortality rate for camels in UAE is 34% and that they work to keep their rate under 10%. I hope they inflated the rates to scare me because they sound horrifyingly high.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.333s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 16; qc: 125; dbt: 0.2303s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Joe Purcell
non-member comment
Fun
It looks as though you are all having a great time. Did you really milk a cow? I did once but never asked again.