Feral Camels…Camel Milk…A $10 Billion Industry?
In 2006 PWF asked if there were any entrepreneurs interested in milking camels? Four years later an Israeli, Gilad Berman, expressed interest in milking Australia’s feral camels milk. Today Gilad is milking camels in Perth’s hills and selling milk at $20/litre.
Why Camel Milk?
Apart from the fact that camel milk is reputed to make wonderful chocolate, the United Nations estimates there are more than 200 million potential customers worldwide meaning the industry could eventually be worth $10 billion. Camel milk has:
- High concentration of insulin
- Doesn’t contain proteins that cause allergies
- Counteracts metallic taste after chemotherapy
- A source of Alpha-Hydroxy acids known to reduce fine lines in skin
- casein free, unique in mammals’ milk
- 40% less cholesterol than cow’s milk
- Three times as much vitamin C as cow’s milk
- High amounts of iron
- Considered the closest compound to mother’s milk
- Considered an aphrodisiac
- Used successfully in treating psoriasis
How Are They Milking Feral Camels?
Gilad has bought two dozen feral camels and his camel whisperer, Steve Geppert, says the camels remain calm throughout the milking, more interested in the bucket of feed next to them than the milking machine. Steve says:
“The dairy has been milking four camels over the past 12 months, producing approximately 450 litres each month which is being sold locally, in Australia’s eastern states and New Zealand..
Twelve months ago this camel was running around wild out in the Australian desert and now here she is in the dairy, standing so still you could sit down and read a book between her legs..
We’re the only Western country in the world with access to wild camels, we’ve got the purest and most disease-free wild camels on the planet and we’ve got some of the highest dairy standards in the world.”
A Mobile Milking Machine? UHT Milk?
Given Australia’s 750,000 feral camels, another approach could be to take a mobile milking machine to the camels, maybe using solar power to make UHT milk, addressing the transport to market problem?
I wonder where this industry will be in ANOTHER 8 years?
2 Comments
A little lateral thinking by Gilad Berman has provided a very worthwhile industry. Congratulations Gilan.
Why didn’t I know about this possibility in the ‘seventies, when I was young and active? It is an amazing opportunity to turn a problem – the feral camels – into a viable industry with immense potential. Why are we leaving it to free-thinking people from overseas to do this. WAKE UP, AUSTRALIA!