I'm actually hoping that none of you have had this problem, but maybe something similar. The farm I'm working on has a camel that for one reason and another has a serious attitude problem. She acts fine half the time, but other times when you go in to get the milk cows she chases people, spitting and kicking and biting. She has knocked people down, and scared quite a few more than that. My theory is that she does it because she thinks it's funny, but then when you react to her she gets angry. I had my first serious encounter with her this afternoon, ended up in a sandwich with the electric fence, 2 sheep, a cow, and a camel, generally not a good thing. I'm hoping that someone has some idea how to make her disinterested, as the only thing that seems to work is to pop the lead rope at her while walking backward VERY quickly, which is really hard when you're leading a cow that's getting bitten by said camel. Swearing loudly also helps, but we are a family oriented farm... Anyway, just needed to get my rant out, and am really hoping that someone has some ideas about this. Thanks, Caite
Camels are ill tempered to begin with, I would think about a shock prod, and next time let the camel get bit a few times and it should get the idea to leave you alone.
How about--asking your task masters how they would like for you to handle the situation? Ask them to observe the camels behavior from the edge of the pasture as you proceed to bring in the other stock. They should realize that there is a problem from this observation. Does the camel treat others the same? Perhaps a spray bottle with a little ammonia in it would deter the camel.
If you're trying to drive her off try shaking a metal tape measure at her. Scares the dickens out of sheep and cattle. On the other hand maybe it'd make her worse!
..................She is probably very frustrated. She needs a boyfriend ...I would find 2 lifesize , cardboard figures of Bob and Bing riding a camel and Play the song "on the road to Moracco(sp)" every morning.. , keeping the electric prod option always available ......maybe this will calm her down.....fordy...
The problem with demonstating the behavior is that she doesn't do it consistently. The shcok prod is probably an idea that would not go over well, as we are pacifistic and even popping her with the end of the rope is frowned upon unless she's actually trying to kill you. I don't feel comfortable trying to scare her, as her reaction to fright is to jump and buck and kick... The 30.06 is a solution that's been mentioned more than a few times, as camel burgers kinda sound like a tasty treat! Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions guys, I really appreciate it. Caite
Personally, if they won't let you use appropriate measures such as a shock stick, which by the way would not harm the animal at all, I would tell them to move the camel out of the pen with the other stock, or look for a new stock-handler. I have never handled camels, but it sounds like a territorial aggression thing. Most herd animals will act that way if spoiled and not trained to respect humans. She thinks she is the "boss" of everything in that pen, and if the owners don't even like you shaking a rope at it, no wonder it acts that way. She needs to be taught that any human coming in the pen is to be respected. That is a big enough animal that you could seriously get hurt, and how would they like a lawsuit for your medical bills when that camel really hurts you? I love my animals as much as anyone, but if we had an employee that was in danger of being hurt by one of them, we would immediately take steps to correct things! Please be very careful. You could get hurt !
RandB is 100 percent right!!! You must do somthing or you WILL get hurt... Maybe tie her up before you remove animals? I would use the hotshot, would teach her to back off. Use the word NO very sternly and then if she dosnt back off pop her.
If you can't PORPERLY reprimand an animal causing problems you're in for more of the sameif not worse. Hope there's not any aggressive horses on the property. You need to be the boss out there, not the animals. It's your life and well being that comes first. Period.
sale her. I seen some sale this spring. they averged 6700 bucks with the top female bringing 12000. You can buy a lot of nice animals for 12000 and some feed to.
I have a friend with much camel experience if I can get ahold of him. His name is Osama Bin something. Can't recall his last name off hand. I have his phone number, but I tried to call him, and it has been disconnected for some reason. Last I heard, he was on a walkabout in Pakastan, Afghanistan, or somewhere in that region. If I locate him, want me to have him contact you?
I have had great results with a shock collar. With both our blue heeler dogs and our horse (read the farm horse brag thread) the greatess thing about it is that the animal may well never know that you are the source of the zap, you can always be the 'nice guy' and the best collars are ajustable as to the power level of the zap, I can zap my hand with a level 2 on ours and it is about the same as a rubber band snap, I haven't had to go above a level 3 on the horse (I only used that for biting) the dogs have had many level 7 zaps, with our collars 2 mile range they don't go walkabout anymore.
