3.1. AnimalProduction-Camelids-2019 EN

12/17/2019
HUSBANDRY OF CAMELS
AND LLAMAS
Ing. Tamara Fedorova, Ph.D.
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Origin
50 million years ago (Middle Eocene) in North America
- about 90 species live there for 40 mil. years (savanna
grasslands)
family Camelidae included e.g.:
– Protylopus (rabbit-size)
– Poebrotherium (sheep-size)
– Aepycamelus (formerly Alticamelus; reached 5.5 m
high)
– Camelops (larger dromedary-like)
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Origin
Migration from North America in Miocene and Pliocene

(3-7 million years ago)
a) across Bering Straits to Asia, Europe, Africa
 modern equids & Old World camels
b) to the South America
 extinction of equids & New World camels (llamas)
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Current distribution
1.4 mil.
950
20 mil.
Bactrian
Alpaca
2.8 mil. 1 mil.
Vicuna
350 000
Llama Dromedary
Guanaco 3.2 mil.
600 000
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Camelids
• lack hooves: two-toed foot with pad
• other pads on the chest and knees
• ruminants: different structure than in Ruminantia

• true canine teeth
• udder have 4 teats but they have

mostly one calf
• female lay down on mating
Digestive system of camelids

ruminants (remastication & chewing), but few
anatomical and physiological differences from
Ruminantia
three distinct compartments
- anaerobic fermentation by symbiotic
microorganisms (digesting of fiber)
- gastric secretion
of proteolytic
digestive enzymes
and HCl – in last
one-fifth of 3rd
compartment
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Hubandry of Camels
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Bactrian Camel (two-humped)
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Distribution
• Mongolia
• China
• Kazakhstan
• Russia
The Bactrian Camel

• Camelus bactrianus,
• high between humps:
170-180 cm
• the weight is about
500-700 kg
• humps weight up to 40 kg
• traditional animal
• temperatures: - 40; +
40°C
• more massive
• longer hair (in winter)
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Dromedary (one-humped)
bull have “dulaa” =

= palatal flap in mouth
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The Dromedary
• Camelus dromedarius
• domesticated form only
• in North Africa, Arabia, India
A) pack dromedary
- strong and massive
- about 180 kg
B) riding dromedary
- fast and slimmer
- also for racing
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Colours of camels
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Feral Dromedary Camels

• in mid 80s – population of feral camels was estimated
at 100 000
• in 2005 – 500 000 of feral camels
• today – about one million
• Feral Camels Video

• Feral camels catching video (min. 21)
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Camel‘s population
• 27 millions (FAO estimation)
• 90 % are dromedaries, 9.6 % are Bactrian camels, rest
are hybrids
• camels were introduces to the Southern Africa, USA
and Australia
• in Europe - about 7 000 of camels
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Camel‘s population
(ISIS, 2008; Faostat, 2008)
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Camel’s body
• skeleton is mostly similar to the cattle
• lockable nostrils
• very long neck and legs
• Pads = 7 mm thick modified skin
- on chest (pedestal), elbows, stifles, knees and
hocks
• the hair are longer on humps, shoulders, neck and head
• poll glands = modified sweat glands, situated behind
ears
• the activity is affected by season (the rut in males)
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The skeleton-dromedary
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The foot of camel
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Thermoregulation
• reduce their water losses to minimum
• able to lose 25% of their bodyweight (in experiment 37
%)
(the majority of mammals die at about 15 %)
Normally the blood volume decrease and after a longer

dehydration the heart stops to pump, but in camels
the volume of the blood decreases very slow.
Camel can stay without water 10-15 days (in lower

temperature up to 30 days/ 51 days in experiment)
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How camels reduce water losses:

Their body t can vary over 6°C (34 - 40°C).
They sweat in t over 40°C.
Their efficient kidneys and colons achieve almost
absolute concentration of urine and almost dry dung.
They can drink about 100 l of water during few minutes.
Normally, such quick rehydration would cause the
rupture of the blood corpuscles and the death but red
corpuscles of camel are elliptical and very resilient.
Fat in the hump contains about 20 litres of water, but this
process is very energetically costly and
disadvantageous.
Wild Bactrian camels can drink salt water and eat salty
plants.
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Hair
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Locomotion
• centre of gravity on front limbs – worse stability
• basic walk – amble (both feet on the same side of the
body)
• under baggage or in gallop – lay legs like other
ungulates
• kicking – to the various directions
• by one leg only
• mainly by hind leg but also by front leg
• not able to jump over something
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Camels can swim
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Extensive breeding systems

• Practiced in Africa, Arabia and Asia
• camels mainly under traditional pastoral
management – extensive production
• home-based or nomadic herds
• natural pasture with low nutritive value; only a salt
and water is provided in few-days interval
• camel are sorted often only to cows and bull
• camels are sometimes combined with cattle,
sheep or goats
• camels for traditional usage – milk, work
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Extensive breeding systems

• management of reproduction almost does not exist
• males mate female freely
• most of bulls are mainly culled or castrated (for work)
• one bull is used for many ears - inbreeding problems
and high mortality of calves
• sometimes, more bulls are bred together and the
strongest bull mates with cows
• sex ratio in herd – 1 bull to 10-100 cows
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Semi-intensive breeding systems

• semi-intensive breeding provide to camels more
comprehensive care
• supplementary feed is provided in addition with
pasture and ad libitum watering
• basic health care
Camels bred in these system have better production
and also reproduction performances.
(Bakheit et al., 2008)
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Intensive breeding systems
Racing camels in Arabia

- the care is similar to racing horses
- high nutritional food, best veterinary care
- application of new methods in reproduction
Research centers focused on camels (Inda, Arabia)
Modern dairy farms
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Camels as pet animal
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Pasture of camels
• prefer bushes, trees and dwarf shrubs
• but also grazer (5% only)
• wide variety of consumed plants
• can eat thorny, salty or woody plants
• can reach branches of trees and bushes to a
height of 3.5 metre
• eats woody plants by using its strong canine
teeth to crush the wood
(Mukasa-Mugerwa, 1981)
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Pasture of camels
(Mukasa-Mugerwa, 1981)
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Supplementary Feeding
Supplementary food:
a) animals with no forage
 10 kg of straw + 4.5 kg of barley
b) animals with forage
 the grain should not exceed 3.6 kg
c) animals with no forage
+ no grain – 32 kg of straw
• in combination with concentrate mixture resulted in

improved working capacity of animals
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Water requirements
 3–30 litres per day (according to conditions and

feed)
 Up to 30 days without water

 But they should drink every day (or every 3th day)
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Utilization
of Camels
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Traditional utilization of camels
• Work – ride, pack, draught

• Milk and other products from milk
• Meat
• Blood
• Lather
• Hair
• ....
• Calves
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Riding
• walk – 4 km/h
• jog – 10 km/h
• fast run – up to 20 km/h
• canter (gallop)
• up to 50-80 km/day (2 weeks)
• optimal time for “breaking” is about 3 years of age
• with special saddles
(MUKASA-MUGERWA, 1981)
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Traditional Saddels for Dromedaries
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Traditional Saddles for Bactrian Camels
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Modern Saddles
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Training the camel

• often are used nose pegs or nose rings
• bridle or halters
✓camels are hard to train
✓traditionally the training is heartless
✓necessary to start with calf
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Racing Camels in Arabia

Camels reached speed up to 32 km/h
Traditional races
Modern races
- mainly the circle tracts with stadium
- race at 10 km ( 4,5 or 6 km for young animals)
- modern technologies are used (TV screens,
commentators)
Racing camels
wear often muzzles.
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Racing Camels in Arabia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0a
EtNH1NyY&feature=related
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Racing Camels in Asia
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Racing Camels in Australia
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Packing
• pack up to 200 kilos for longer distances
• average speed of 3–5 km/h - 30 km/day or more
• for short distances up to 300 kg
• animal older than 6 years
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Draught
• drawing wheels, ploughing, and conveying water
• about 320 kg (up to 800 kg)
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Military and police
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Milk
• the milk is also used for calf nutrition
• milking - mainly by hand
• mostly consumed fresh
www.new-ag.info
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Modern dairy farms
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Modern dairy farms

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uztWFuSaUZY
• in Dubai
• 150 workers managing 2,200 camels, 600 to 700 of
which are milked twice daily
• Milking is fully automated and milking machinery is
adapted for the size of camel teats.
• 5,000 litres of camel milk per day (average 7,5 l/camel)
• Milk is stored in a cooling tank before being processed.
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Milk yield
length of lactation: 9-18 month

Bactrian: 1,750 l/year
Dromedary: up to 3,000 l/year
(Farah & Fischer, 2004)
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Production of camel milk
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Milk composition
pH: 6.2 - 6.5 (lower than in cow)
taste: sharp sweet or salt
can be kept longer without refrigerator than cow’s
milk
contains less vitamins A, B, E, but rich in vit. C
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Camel milk
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Products from milk

Fermented milk:
- preservation from the warm
- milk is left in smoked container for one or two
days at temperature between 25-35°C – natural
fermentation
Butter:
- also not traditional product
- from milk fat
- churning of milk at 20-25°C
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Products from milk

Cheese:
- 3 times longer process then in the cow milk
- problematic, patented procedure with camel
chimosin
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Products from milk

Chocolate – from camel milk
Ice-cream
Oil – for making soaps and cosmetics, in Australia
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Products from milk

Milk uses in Mongolia:
Tarag – product similar to yoghurt
Unda – by lactic and alcohol fermentation
Aaruul – like cheese, dried on the sun
Tea with milk
(Yagil, 1982)
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Camel meat traditionally

Meat of camel is not consumed often – too much
valuable
• mainly old or diseased camels
• the best meat from young (up to 5 years)
• the taste and texture is similar to beef
• average slaughter yield = 50-60 %

• fat from a hump is in some
tribes a titbit
(Morton, 1984; Dmitriev, 1989)
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Camel meat in 21st century

The percentage of slaughtered camels is
increasing
More often are slaughtered males than females
Highest rates are in western Asia (31%) and

eastern Asia (21%). In Africa about 5,5 %.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfNj
8295LPc
(Kadim 2012)
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Camel meat in 21st century
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Hair
• best form calves and young animals
• color is mainly brown, but also white or reddish
• Dromedary:
• cutting in spring
• mainly in India - about 1-5.5 kg
• Somali camels about 0.5 kg
• after cutting oiling the body and protection from the sun
• Bactrian:
• they naturally shed in the spring
• the hair can be up to 30 cm long
• up to 15 kg of hair from the bull
(from cow less)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4qUkHipeFs
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Other products
Leather - only a little used (hose for hookah)
Blood - in some countries is consumed fresh
Dung – as a fuel or fertilizer
Bones - decoration, fertilizer (meal)
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Commercial use
• promotion, film, education....
www.velbloudi.cz
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Camel Wrestling
• popular in Turkey
• 2,400-year history
• matches are held between male camels of a type called
Tülü, which are bred by mating a female Arabian
Dromedary camel with male Bactrian camel
• events have certain rules so that the camels do not
seriously injured
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJwRIdTc60c
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HUSBANDRY OF
LLAMAS
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Distribution of wild lamoids

• Guanaco (Lama • Vicugna (Vicugna
guanicoe) vicugna)
• status: LC (IUCN, 2008) • status: LC (IUCN, 2008)
• population: ca 550,000 • population: ca 350,000
(stable) (increasing)
140 000
in Peru
> 90 % in
133 000 in
Argentina
Argentina
www.animalpictures123.org
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Distribution of domestic lamoids

• Llama (Lama glama) • Alpaca (Vicugna pacos)
• > 3.6 mil. in SA • > 3.7 mil. in SA
• > 3.7 mil. worldwide • > 4.2 mil. worldwide
1.2 mil.
87 % in
in Peru
Peru
2.4 mil. in
Bolivia
en.wikipedia.org www.countingflowers.co.uk
www.dreamstime.com www.123rf.com
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Llama
the biggest one
large, massive
130-155 kg
www.photographersdirect.com
long ears
facial part without hair
variability in colours
woolly type, 30 %
non-woolly type, 70 %
no hair on ears, forehead
shorter fibre www.lamoniny.estranky.cz
(skinswoolperu 2016)
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becuo.co
m
Alpaca
• 2nd smallest after vicugna

• 55-65 kg
• short ears
• hair on face
• rounded body lanakalma.blogspot.com
• Huacaya (90 %) – larger

• Suri (10 %) – long hair
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South America Camelids habitat

• highlands of South America form a special ecosystem
• habitat of South American Camelids is located
between
2 800 to 5 000 m.a.s.l. in areas of Peru, Bolivia, Chile
and Argentina
• the temperature is usually below 0°C
• the fluvial precipitation has an average of 300 mm of
rain
• natural fertility of the soil is low, characterized by Ca
and Mg deficiency
•  biomass production is reduced and located to a
rainfall station
Cardellino et al. 2005
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Adaptations of South America

Camelids to their habitat
• All Camelids of the Andes are perfectly adapted to life
at altitudes above of 4 000 m.
• evolved many physiological adaptations
• unusually high number of small, elliptical red blood
cells, which offer them a greater capacity to carry
oxygen
• utilize well poof feed
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Thermoregulation
• natural climate – cool and dry
• they are not able to stay for a long time without water !
• very high temperatures or humidity → heat stress
- necessary to provide the shade or „swimming pools“
• lamas are not adapted to deep freeze → cold stress
• the best time for shearing is spring
(Hoffman, 2006)
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Production systems of SAC

• pastoral (lama or lama and sheep) system
• agropastoral system
• typical structure of Bolivian llamas’ flock shows a

higher proportion of females than males (64.6% vs.
35.4%)
• the ratio between reproductive females and males is
close to 11:1 (F:M)
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Lamas and poverty cycle

• connected with irrational management of lamas and
the low prices for its products led to the development
of a poverty cycle for poor livestock keepers
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Behaviour
• wide range of vocalizations
• humming (discomfort), alarm
call (pradator), snorting (low
aggression), scraming (fear),
screeching (aggression),
orgling (mating males) and
others sounds
• body postures by whole body,
tail, head and ears
• spitting – aggressive display
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTGPbLZQRPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3k5smZlKdg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvp5qeNgkwg
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Lamas as pets
Paddock:
for 3 lamas – 150 m2 (for every next animal + 30 m2 )
Stables: 2 m2 for every animal, non-heated
Fences or guarding by dogs
Only one adult male in one group!
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Feeding of Lamas
In South America:
– mainly extensive pastoral feeding
Other areas:
• feeding is similar to camels, often is recommended to cut
larger fruit or vegetable to smaller pieces
• brunches for nibbling
• water !
• minerals and vitamins
supplements
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Thank you for attention.
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12/17/2019

Ing. Tamara Fedorova, Ph.D.

Migration from North America in Miocene and Pliocene

• ruminants: different structure than in Ruminantia

• udder have 4 teats but they have

Digestive system of camelids

Bactrian Camel (two-humped)

The Bactrian Camel

bull have “dulaa” =

Feral Dromedary Camels

• Feral Camels Video

(ISIS, 2008; Faostat, 2008)

The foot of camel

Normally the blood volume decrease and after a longer

Camel can stay without water 10-15 days (in lower

How camels reduce water losses:

Camels can swim

Extensive breeding systems

Extensive breeding systems

Semi-intensive breeding systems

(Bakheit et al., 2008)

Intensive breeding systems

Racing camels in Arabia

Research centers focused on camels (Inda, Arabia)

Modern dairy farms

Camels as pet animal

• in combination with concentrate mixture resulted in

 3–30 litres per day (according to conditions and

 Up to 30 days without water

Traditional utilization of camels

• Work – ride, pack, draught

Traditional Saddels for Dromedaries

Traditional Saddles for Bactrian Camels

Training the camel

Racing Camels in Arabia

Racing Camels in Arabia

Racing Camels in Asia

Racing Camels in Australia

Military and police

Modern dairy farms

Modern dairy farms

length of lactation: 9-18 month

(Farah & Fischer, 2004)

Production of camel milk

(Farah & Fischer, 2004)

Products from milk

(Farah & Fischer, 2004)

Products from milk

(Farah & Fischer, 2004)

Products from milk

(Farah & Fischer, 2004)

Products from milk

Camel meat traditionally

• average slaughter yield = 50-60 %

(Morton, 1984; Dmitriev, 1989)

Camel meat in 21st century

Highest rates are in western Asia (31%) and

Camel meat in 21st century

Distribution of wild lamoids

Distribution of domestic lamoids

• 2nd smallest after vicugna

• Huacaya (90 %) – larger

South America Camelids habitat

Cardellino et al. 2005