Camel Feeding Guide: Forage, Concentrates, Water and Salt

Good camel feeding rests on one principle: browse and roughage are the foundation, and concentrates are a measured top-up for specific stages. A camel in late pregnancy, a milking camel and a breeding bull in the rutting season all need extra support. A dry, non-pregnant camel on decent range often does well on roughage, water and salt. The most expensive mistake is feeding the whole herd one ration.

Camels tolerate hunger and thirst better than any other livestock, which is exactly why underfeeding goes unnoticed. The camel copes, but pays later: a late calving, a weak calf, less milk. This guide organises feeding by production stage, explains water and minerals, and shows how to track it all with numbers rather than guesswork.

How camels eat: the basics

Camels are pseudo-ruminants with a digestive system that is very efficient at extracting nutrients from coarse, thorny and salty plants that sheep and goats often refuse. On open range a camel moves from shrub to shrub, taking a little from each plant, and that variety gives it a fairly balanced diet.

What this means in practice:

• Fibre comes first. A camel ration is not built on grain. Hay, straw, crop residues and browse are the base.
• Change slowly. Any move from range to pen, or any increase in grain, should happen over several days to avoid digestive upsets.
• Salt is part of the diet. Camels need more salt than most livestock. Where the range has no salty plants, you must supply it.
• Watch body condition and the hump. The hump stores energy; a clearly shrinking hump tells you the ration is not covering needs.

Rations by production stage

There is no single ration for the whole herd. The table gives the general direction; exact amounts depend on body weight, the quality of the feed you have, and advice from your vet or a nutritionist.

A practical rule: start the extra feed for pregnant camels weeks before calving, not on the day. Underfeeding in late pregnancy shows up as weak calves and a slow return to breeding, and with such a long reproductive cycle that can cost you a whole season. For more on this stage, read camel breeding and calving.

Water: the most underrated nutrient

Camels can go several days without drinking in cool weather, but that does not mean they do not need water. In summer, and for milking camels in particular, plenty of clean water is a condition for production. A milking camel on restricted water drops milk quickly.

Practical points:

• Offer water daily to milking camels, calves and penned animals, especially in the hot months.
• After a period without water, camels drink a large volume at once, so the watering point must be big enough to avoid crowding.
• Clean troughs regularly and keep an eye on borehole salinity; very salty water reduces intake.
• Record any sudden change in drinking. It is often one of the first signs of illness.

Salt, minerals and common mistakes

On salty rangelands camels get much of their salt from plants. In pens or on poor range, provide salt and a mineral block made for livestock, available at all times. Mineral shortages can show as poor appetite, chewing soil or bones, or reduced fertility. If you see these signs, talk to your vet.

Mistakes we see often on camel farms:

1. Too much barley without enough roughage, which risks digestive problems.
2. Sudden ration changes when moving camels between range and pen.
3. Same amount for every animal, so dry camels eat more than they need and milking camels less.
4. Uncontrolled access to feed sacks or stale bread, a source of both health problems and waste.
5. No feed records, so the owner never knows the true cost per head.

Tracking feed with numbers, step by step

Feed is the biggest cost in a penned camel herd, and control starts with measurement. Keep it simple:

1. Split the herd into groups by stage: dry, late pregnant, milking, bulls, calves.
2. Set a ration per group in kilograms of roughage and concentrate.
3. Record meals and stock: what entered the store and what each group received.
4. Check the results: body condition, daily milk for milking camels, and calf weights where possible.

In Throf you can organise camels into groups (pens), record meals, feed stock in kilograms and water, and link this to milk and weight records. Because expenses sit in the same place, you see cost per head and net profit instead of an estimate. That lets you answer a key question: did the extra concentrate for the milking group raise milk enough to pay for itself? To see how that calculation works, read how to calculate cost per head.

The bottom line

Make browse and roughage the foundation, and add concentrate only where it pays back: late pregnancy, milking, bulls in season, and growing calves. Never restrict water for milking camels, always provide salt, and change rations gradually. Above all, record what each group eats, because you cannot improve what you do not measure.