Most of the camels are found in Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana as they are well adapted to the arid and desert condition. Camels are less adapted to the humid and damp climate. This is partly due to lower efficiency for work on the muddy soils and no proper defensive mechanisms against biting flies.

Production Aspect (Meat. Milk, work and wool)

                The camels have a gestation period of about 12 months and a cow calves normally every second year and gives milk continuously. If not dried she may reduce milk yield in the next lactation. Normally in Rajasthan the camels start breeding at the age of 3 years when they have about 300 kg of body weight. Bulls are used for breeding from 6-7 years of age. Females yield between 8-10 liters of milk. Milk is consumed by the human beings. It is used for preparation of khoa or mawa but is unsuitable for curd.

Camel milk is rich in protein (3.7 %) and can sustain the calf for growth. The weight of full grown camel depends on the breed. Full grown camel (450-500kg) achieves its weight at about 5 years of age. This shows a slow rate of growth because of shortage of feed. The focal starts grazing at 12 weeks of age.

                Camels are very good draught animals in the arid and semi-arid regions. All the agriculture operations including transport are done by camels. Very limited quantity of camel meat is used by the human beings in India although it is very good food. Camel leather is used for making shoes and many kind of other goods. Huge water bags are prepared from the hides of camels for bulk transport of water. Camel hairs are used for rope (outer cover) and blankets (inner cover). They produce about 1-1.5 kg of hair per year. Camel brushes are used for painting.

Reproduction Including AI

                The female calves generally come to puberty at 3 years of age by which time it attains a body weight of 250-300 kg. The male camel comes to rut (locally known as musth) at the age of 6-7 years.

                The rutting season in Rajasthan is from November to March. The actual duration of rut depends mostly on the grazing condition. Good grazing brings early rutting which continues for longer period. During rutting season the male animals loses its condition. Normally camels are kept in herd, and in a herd only one male expresses the musth condition. The other males suppress this or else a fight beings and the stronger once is allowed to show the rutting and the rest keep it suppressed.

                Natural service (hand mating) is generally practised for breeding. Artificial insemination has not been attempt so far in India and the technique of AI in camels is successful in Russia.

Nutrition and Feeding Habits

                The feeding habits of the camel very from area to area where they are located. Normally they subsist on browsing and grazing. The type of vegetation browsed/ grazed varies from place to place depending upon the ecological system. As the area available for camel grazing is progressively decreasing in Rajasthan, stall feeding of camels is increasing.

                The camels eat verity of vegetation. Among the tree fodders in Rajasthan the most relished are acacia, Khejri (prosopis), salvadora, etc.

                The bushes grazed are Zizyphus, wild oliv, bekariya (Indigofera), salt bush etc. camels also eat the green grass which is available in Rajasthan during monsoon season. Camels can eat anything. A list of the plants/ shrubs/ tree leaves browsed by the camels in India has been given in Table 20.1.

The camel in is by and large a browsing animal and rarely grazes except on tall, young and succulent grasses. It requires 1.5 to 2 kg of dry matter pre 100 kg body weight. For browsing/ grazing in Rajasthan 7-10 hectares of grazing land is required pre animal depending upon the density of vegetation in the area.

                In the absence of adequate grazing/browsing, stall feeding of camel should be practised. The ration may be green or dry fodder with or without supplementation of grains. Normally green fodder are preferred over the dry fodder since green fodder feeding would not necessitate the grain feeding. It is better to feed chaffed fodder.

                The common green fodder fed in the camel raising are moth (phaseolus aconitifolius), mung (phaseollus mungo), guar ( cyamopsis psoralioides ) senji (mellilotus parviflora), etc. Green gram, maize, jowar etc. also fed. They dry fodder are sundried leaves of trees, bushes and fodder (hay). The commonly used dry leaves of jharberi (ziziphus, nummularia) popularly known as pala is a good protein supplements for camel and sheep in Rajasthan.

                Crop residues like straws from cereals (rice, wheat) and leguminous crops like moth, mung, guar etc. are commonly used as dry fodder.

Nutrient Requirement

                No systematic work has been reported on the nutrient requirements of camel for growth, maintenance, work, milk, production, etc. However the camel breeders with long experience have known the art of practical feeding of camels.

Feeding Schedules

                On an average an adult resting camel consumes about 2 kg; growing working and lactating animals form 2.5-3 kg of dry matter per 100 kg body weight. As indicated earlier, mostly the camel are allowed to graze/ browse with little supplementation of Misa bhusa and gram grains. On an average 8-10 kg of Misa Bhusa along with 1-1.5 kg of gram/barley/moth are fed as a supplemental feed to the rising animals during the time when poor grazing is available. Green fodder like guar is also fed during the month of September- October. In concentrate, till cake and wheat bran, mixed in equal portion and fortified by salt, is also given along with jowar fodder. During February-March Mustard (Brassica compestris) is also fed. There is a common practice of feeding ½ kg of gur (indigenous sugar) to the working animals.

Management, Behaviour and Adaptability

                Over centuries the traditional system of camel raising, in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana etc., is practised by professional  camel breeders awning large herds of camel in areas, that provide adequate grazing facilities for maintaining the animals in good condition, but now with the shrinkage of area for grazing the herd size is decreasing and the conditions of the animals is deteriorating.

                As a rule camels thrives best in the area where they have been bred, like Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat etc,. However, they gradually adapt to new areas of Punjab, where they are brought for work. During this period they losses their condition if supplemental stall feeding is not provided.