Cameleer Tales

Scroll down to read about:

- Operation Camel Rescue

- Camel Uber for Muffin

- Cheeky and her Baby

- The Best Tour Ever

- Hope the Baby Camel

Operation Camel Rescue

28th July 2023

One of our dairy camels got herself into quite a predicament and had to be rescued this week!

Here’s the story from our Cameleer Jess, who found her:

When I went to move the big mob into a different paddock, I noticed Olaf aka Mumma Bear, one of my favourites, was missing so the next day we went for a walk through the paddock and along Warrill Creek to look for her. It was getting dark, so we were only able to search about a third of the paddock and had no luck. I returned to search the next section and just before I was about to give up and head home for the day, I found her.

Olaf looked so sad, it broke my heart.

Somehow Olaf had managed to get down into the creek and then got herself stuck on the opposite bank on a small bit of land with no way out.

When she heard the buggy coming, she jumped up because she knew that meant food! We gave her some much-needed hay and assessed the situation. It was a very steep bank that even we struggled to get out of.

The next day Operation Camel Rescue began and within 2 hours we had her up and out of the creek. Olaf was very happy to see us!

The first step was to get a halter on her, which was a challenge because even though she is trained for the dairy, she isn’t halter trained.

After multiple dips in the creek for everyone involved, we managed to get the straps underneath her.

While waiting for the excavator she got herself up and out of the creek and into the perfect position ready to be lifted out.

We tied a jumper over her face as a blindfold to keep her nice and calm and up she went!

She remained very still and calm the whole time.

Due to the distance back to the road, the uneven ground and the long grass she was carried all the way.

She was then loaded onto the float and brought back home to enjoy some much needed food and to be spoilt by our team. She did not sit down all day. She just wanted to walk around and enjoy her freedom.

We don't know exactly how long she had been down there but it had been a while. Thankfully camels are extremely tough and she will bounce back in no time.

Camel Uber for Muffin!

28th April 2023

First baby of the season!

Muffin wasn't feeding off Mum straight away so our farm staff brought them both up to the yards to help them and keep an eye on them. She's had a good feed now and both Mum and Bub are doing well!

Here is Muffin a few days later:

Cheeky and her Baby

19th August 2022

When Cheeky had her baby recently we posted on Facebook a heap of lovely photos that were taken by Cameleer Katie. One of our followers, Cassie Cooper, recently commented on this photo and told us that she loves it so much that she got a tattoo of it.

Of course, we had to see it!

We requested a photo of that tattoo and Cassie sent it to us.

It was posted in our staff group chat so everyone could appreciate the awesomeness. Everyone loved it! Katie commented in the chat that she had taken the photo and that it was a very stressful day for her and Bernie.

It sounded like there was more to the story and when it comes to camels, anything can happen so we asked Katie for the details.

Katie said: “It was only Bernie and I on the farm and we were busy doing the Cameleer Experiences all day. One of the yellow tag camels had given birth but instead of looking after the baby, she left her and ran after Cheeky. (This happens occasionally with new mums) Poor Cheeky had just broken her waters and now she was stuck with this camel who thought Cheeky was her baby. We couldn't separate them in the maternity paddock so Bernie and I decided to bring both up to the red yards.

We managed to separate them and then moved Cheeky back to the maternity paddock. All the while she was holding in her baby then pretty much as soon as she was back in there, she gave birth. It was nice to see how maturely she handled the situation.

We then had to carry the yellow tag camel’s fat baby up to reunite her with it. (He was very big). Once it was just the two of them together they did start to bond but we had to hand milk the mum and bottle feed the baby for a few days until she finally started feeding it. This baby has since been named Derek.”

Back to Cassie and her tattoo. Cheeky’s little boy still didn’t have a name so we thought it would be more than appropriate for Cassie to choose it. You know, since she’s walking around with a tattoo of him and all.

Cassie replied, “That is the best. I love how I have a story behind the pic. Cheeky is a good camel. Glad I chose her to be on me forever. I would love to choose the name. That is such an honour.”

And she has named him “Coops”

“The Best Tour Ever!”

17th July 2022

But Cameleer Toni swears it will be her last!

Toni is our head camel trainer and has a vast amount of knowledge and experience with Camels but she’s used to being behind-the-scenes and she likes it that way. On Sunday she was called upon to take the two Farm Tours as other staff were away sick. This would be her first day of leading the tours, but with her years of experience, she would be more than capable of providing an informative and interesting experience for our guests.

And didn’t she ever?!

During the first tour, she pointed out a camel named Barbara to the group who, based on her behaviour, Toni thought would give birth that day.

When the time came for the second tour to walk past Barbara’s paddock, Toni observed that Barbara was indeed in labour and she looked uncomfortable. She kept standing up and sitting down and the baby’s head and legs were out but seemed distressed.

The tour group assured Toni that they were happy to wait if she wanted to go down to check on the situation.

As Toni approached Barbara, she started to stand up but Toni reassured her and she sat back down. She allowed Toni to assist her by pulling the baby out. The tour group saw it all and took these wonderful photos.

It is quite rare that one of our camels needs help when birthing but Toni thinks that Barbara was having trouble because it was a particularly big baby.

Of course the tour group said that it was the best tour they have ever done, but Toni is quite happy to be back working behind the scenes – much less stressful without an audience.

Mum and bub are going well. The baby was a boy and he has been named Fenton.

Little ‘Hope’

29 June 2022 - Someone has stolen Toni's heart

Toni has named her Hope. Mum was down in the paddock when she had this baby and unfortunately she didn't have much milk supply. Our team used the buggy to bring this little one up to the dairy area so that she could be looked after and supplemented with colostrum, vitamin B and milk.

Hope is going well and loves her cuddles but even after a few days, mum still doesn't have much milk so it looks like Hope will be a bottle-fed baby.

12th July 2022 - Update on little Hope

Little Hope managed to get herself in trouble last week by spending a cold wet night in a puddle, even though she was undercover and could have stayed dry. You can imagine how upset Toni, Jess and the team were when they found her in the morning, looking limp and lifeless!

They took action immediately and gave her a warm bath, followed by a blow-dry, as well as lots of cuddles.

Following her spa treatments, Hope was in much better shape but still had to be watched closely for a couple of days. She and her mum were moved to a shelter where she couldn’t get herself into any trouble.