Meet the Sunshine Coast farmers who are milking camels for all they are worth
It is calving time at the world’s first organically certified dromedary dairy and even with milk retailing for about $25 a litre this Queensland producer sells out every week.
QCamel owner Lauren Brisbane said the camel dairy was still the only one in the world to gain organic certification and the price reflected the cost of producing ethical, sustainable milk.
āIt took us five years to achieve that so itās not an easy thing to do but weāre really proud of it,ā Brisbane said.
āItās what we want to produce for our customers and itās also the way we want to treat our camels.ā
The camel farmer said the pasteurised milk was prized for being easy to digest and in China and the United States non-organic camel milk could sell for $40 a litre.
āWeāve got customers waiting for us in the export market ā COVID put a little bit of a dampener on that,ā Brisbane said.
āWeāve also diversified into a skincare range and weāve just exported our first delivery into Singapore so weāre really excited about that.ā
Date nights with camels
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Agritourism is becoming increasingly popular for the business with Bindi Irwin among the dairyās visitors.
Brisbane said camels had unfairly earned a reputation for being bad-tempered spitters.
Her animals are prized for their gentle affectionate natures and follow her around the paddock, hoping for a pat.
The farm, based in Bells Creek on the Sunshine Coast, has diversified to also offer regular cuddle-a-camel days and camel tours for singles nights.
Unlike most dairy calves, camel calves are kept with their mothers for up to two years, with the choice of when to wean them left up to the mothers.
āWe certainly donāt milk the girls until their babies are two months old and reach all their milestones,ā Brisbane said.
āWhen weāve got really little babies they stand next to mum [during milking] and they usually have a teat [too]ā itās far more relaxing for both mum and the baby.ā
Camels have four teats and produce less than half the milk obtained from dairy cows.
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The dairy owns 44 camels, 20 of which are currently being milked with that number expected to increase to 35 over the next few months.
Camel rides on touristsā āto-doā lists
Further north at Scrubby Creek near Gympie, Camelot Dairies has taken on a new Brisbane-based business partner, experienced cameleer Lionel Keegan, to expand its herd size to 55 and try to meet booming demand.
Owner Melanie Fitzgibbon says the dairy is selling out of milk every week and has dozens of repeat orders.
āPeople who want to buy pasteurised milk direct from the farm havenāt been able to do that,ā she said.
āBecause our retail outlets are selling so much at the moment and have been for the last six months ā itās been crazy.ā
The dairy also runs camel rides on Noosaās North Shore and at the Gympie Show Societyās farmersā markets every fortnight.
Camel cart rides will soon be on the agenda.
āWeāve have a lot of Queenslanders holiday in their state and weāve been big on their list of to-dos,ā Fitzgibbon said.
The dairy also produces camel milk products including soap, moisturiser and body butter.
ā ABC / Jennifer Nichols
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