So About Camels
Nov. 24th, 2023 03:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkitouthttps://www.cnn.com/2018/11/25/health/camel-milk-in-the-us-intl/index.html
My walking partner told me about amish and camels, and I went googling. I’ll be back to comment further, but don’t have the time right now.
The Saudi guy pushing the camel milk itself appears in this earlier story at Vice, mentioning benefits to kids with autism (I am moderately skeptical, altho I am inclined to believe that if you are allergic to cow’s milk, switching to some other animal or plant milk might definitely help you feel better!):
https://www.vice.com/en/article/8qkz4p/amish-farmers-are-milking-camels-for-your-health
Also says this:
“The camels on these farms actually come from Australia. Camels run wild over there—they're an invasive species—so a couple of years ago these Amish farmers imported them by the thousands.” My current question was how did the Amish wind up with camels, but no apparent contact with Muslims to go with. This would be an answer.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=79943&page=1
So, apparently Australia is the only place with “wild” camels currently, and they are now exporting them not just to Amish farmers in the US to milk and give Nativity rides at Christmas with, but also to Saudi to provide camel meat to people doing the Hajj and similar. Australia’s camels original came from Northern India, according to that article.
Everything about camels is unexpected.
https://www.pennlive.com/life/2019/07/what-does-pennsylvania-camels-milk-taste-like-video.html
It looks like this farmer is where it started, and the autism stuff is in this article too, altho they are a little cagy about how they present it and make sure it is in quotes (as Vice did). Amos Miller has been in the news for other reasons associated with food safety, at least one death, and a contempt finding — not sure where that stands now, but just to be clear: I am in favor of food safety and I think raw milk other than whatever you milk yourself is probably a bad idea.
This is so weird, tho! If I’ve assembled this picture correctly, a while back, some domesticated Northern Indian camels were shipped to Australia where feral herds grew. The descendants of those Northern Indian camels were then captured, transported and sold in the United States to Amish farmers, who milk them and give Nativity rides on them? Without any camel wrangers coming along at any stage of the game? Granted, this is a _great_ life for a camel. They are not carrying hundreds of pounds across a desert with inadequate food and water. The worst thing they are dealing with is Pennsylvania winter, and they seem to have adequate shelter there.
My walking partner told me about amish and camels, and I went googling. I’ll be back to comment further, but don’t have the time right now.
The Saudi guy pushing the camel milk itself appears in this earlier story at Vice, mentioning benefits to kids with autism (I am moderately skeptical, altho I am inclined to believe that if you are allergic to cow’s milk, switching to some other animal or plant milk might definitely help you feel better!):
https://www.vice.com/en/article/8qkz4p/amish-farmers-are-milking-camels-for-your-health
Also says this:
“The camels on these farms actually come from Australia. Camels run wild over there—they're an invasive species—so a couple of years ago these Amish farmers imported them by the thousands.” My current question was how did the Amish wind up with camels, but no apparent contact with Muslims to go with. This would be an answer.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=79943&page=1
So, apparently Australia is the only place with “wild” camels currently, and they are now exporting them not just to Amish farmers in the US to milk and give Nativity rides at Christmas with, but also to Saudi to provide camel meat to people doing the Hajj and similar. Australia’s camels original came from Northern India, according to that article.
Everything about camels is unexpected.
https://www.pennlive.com/life/2019/07/what-does-pennsylvania-camels-milk-taste-like-video.html
It looks like this farmer is where it started, and the autism stuff is in this article too, altho they are a little cagy about how they present it and make sure it is in quotes (as Vice did). Amos Miller has been in the news for other reasons associated with food safety, at least one death, and a contempt finding — not sure where that stands now, but just to be clear: I am in favor of food safety and I think raw milk other than whatever you milk yourself is probably a bad idea.
This is so weird, tho! If I’ve assembled this picture correctly, a while back, some domesticated Northern Indian camels were shipped to Australia where feral herds grew. The descendants of those Northern Indian camels were then captured, transported and sold in the United States to Amish farmers, who milk them and give Nativity rides on them? Without any camel wrangers coming along at any stage of the game? Granted, this is a _great_ life for a camel. They are not carrying hundreds of pounds across a desert with inadequate food and water. The worst thing they are dealing with is Pennsylvania winter, and they seem to have adequate shelter there.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-25 08:23 pm (UTC)"...On the farm, milking a camel is different from milking a cow, he said. First of all, Fee shared, you don’t have to sit down. Second, the calf needs to be present for the camel to let down her milk and there is only a short window of opportunity.
“The milk gets let down for about 90 seconds,” he explained. “So you have 90 seconds to capture the milk before the milk will essentially shut off from the camel. So it has to happen very quickly. But then another dynamic with that is that the calf is always with the mom..."
Nope, but check this out
Date: 2023-11-26 02:14 am (UTC)All the other profiles I (or you) have found have been very artisanal production. This one is not — a couple of Hungarians and a Brit and a really detailed overview of state-of-the-art industrial camel dairy practices and where things are headed.