Establishing a camel farm is not a typical business. However, these are quite hardy animals capable of enduring harsh climates. Favorable conditions for these animals are desert areas, such as:
- deserts;
- semi-deserts;
- steppes.
The most profitable business will be for residents of Kazakhstan. However, with proper organization, profits can also be made in the northern regions of other countries.
What can you get?
Despite the exotic nature of animals, camels are of great benefit. Their maintenance costs the owners not more expensive than breeding habitual cattle, and products brought by camels annually gain demand in the market. It is also worth noting the low competition in this business.
Considering such animals as a consumable product, several advantages can be noted:
1. Camel fat is highly valued.
It is used in cooking, for the production of cosmetics and even in medicine. This is due to the characteristics of the animal organism. The ability to accumulate useful substances for long journeys in the desert allows camels to retain all the necessary trace elements for a long time.
2. Adults can gain weight up to 500 kg.
That's quite a lot of meat. In some restaurants, this product is considered a delicacy. With proper preparation, camel meat becomes an expensive and tasty product. Therefore, the demand for their meat is quite high.
3. Wool.
Today, camel wool clothing is highly valued on the market, since things are almost 100% natural and environmentally friendly. Their wool is highly paid, so you can make a big profit from its sale.
It is also worth noting that camels live up to 30 years. Given the reproduction of these animals, the business will quickly expand and become more profitable. In addition, the exotic nature of the animals allows you to make additional profit from the sale of photographs and camel rides around the city or on the farm. Another option is to sell the camels themselves to zoos or circus shows.
How to open a business?
The organization of animal breeding is associated with many nuances. Since food products and wool for clothing are sold, permission from veterinarians and sanitary services will be required. In addition, it is necessary to carry out registration in the form of a peasant farm. This is the most beneficial form of registration. Collection required documents can cost about 200-600 dollars.
Animal farming requires a piece of land. Initially, you can buy 10 individuals and rent a plot of 10,000 sq.m. Such space is necessary for the construction of structures of various types. The main ones include:
- spacious pens for animals;
- awnings;
- warehouses for food;
- fenced area for walking and more.
It is preferable to equip the farm in dry climatic zones. However, if you wish, you can choose any area, the main thing is to provide heating in the pens for the cold season. The monthly rent of the site will require approximately 50-200 dollars. The low cost is due to the interest of states in the development of the agricultural industry.
The largest costs relate to the construction of structures. To create all necessary conditions, it will be necessary to build covered pens, conduct heating, create comfortable conditions for animals to live, install feeders, erect facilities for shearing, milking, install warehouses for food, and so on. The total amount is about 30 thousand dollars.
Buying camels and feeding
Today you can find animals not only abroad. It is more profitable to buy camels in your own country, since you do not need to draw up documents for transporting animals abroad. Now there are many camel farms. Young individuals are sold at a price of 2-2.5 thousand dollars. At the same time, prices for imported camels start at $3,000.
Feeding should be discussed separately. It is best to set up a farm close to grain farming sites. This will significantly save on the purchase of feed. An adult individual annually eats about 500-700 kg of grain, about 5 tons of hay and 50-100 kg of mineral salts. Taking into account the price of these products, the cost of feeding one camel is 1100-1300 dollars a year, or 11-13 thousand for a herd of 10 individuals.
The total profit from the sale of wool, milk, fat, meat per year is about 30 thousand dollars, and in cooperation with chains of cafes and restaurants over 60 thousand dollars a year. Taking into account reproduction (1 camel every two years), payback will begin in about 1-1.5 years.
At the same time, animals are unpretentious, can gain weight up to 500 kg, live up to 30 years, and camel products are in growing demand. The competition in this area is very low, which opens up excellent opportunities for profit and without problem market development.
Opening a business, registration, search and arrangement of a site
The implementation of a business idea begins with registration, the optimal form is a peasant farm (farm). After that, you can start searching for land to accommodate a camel farm. For a small herd of 10 individuals, up to 1 hectare will be required. Such a site is enough for the construction of corrals and the placement of other buildings. The preferred terrain is with a dry, arid climate, the steppe zone, although the animals feel fine in colder regions, the main thing is to ensure that they are kept in covered, heated rooms in winter time of the year. The cost of renting land depends on the region, but taking into account the fact that this will not be an agricultural land, you can count on costs of 45-60 USD.
Construction will cost $30,000 (equipment of covered buildings, heating systems, preparation of pens, purchase of feeders, arrangement of several separate rooms for shearing, milking, food storage, etc.).
What to feed camels
If a camel farm is opened next to a crop (grain) farm, you can significantly save on the purchase and transportation of feed.
One adult camel eats about 600 kg of grain crops ($0.15-0.2 per kg), 4-5 tons of hay (0.2 c.u./1 kg), 75 kg of mineral salts (1.5 $ per 1 kg). Animals are watered 2 times a day, so the farm must immediately be provided with an uninterrupted supply of clean water. Thus, the total cost of food for 1 camel is 1250 dollars. Or about $12,000 for the whole herd.
Buying animals
You can buy camels both in our country (a few farms already offer young animals for sale) and abroad. In the first case, you will have to pay about $ 2100-2200 for a breeding young individual, in the second - from $ 3000 and more, depending on the breed + transportation costs. For the purchase of 10 heads - 22,000 c.u.
camel farm workers
A herd of 8-10 camels can be served by 1-2 employees. The salary fund will be no more than $ 5,000 per year. Many novice farmers do on their own or involve family members in the business. Veterinary services are provided as needed, accounting is outsourced.
Camel Farm Income Sources
There are several sources of income for a camel farm. First of all, it is the sale of warm, valuable and rare camel wool, products from which are elite and expensive. From an adult, you can get up to 7-10 kg of wool per year, the sale price is from 10-20 USD. for 1 kg. The second is the sale of camel milk, which has healing properties and belongs to rare, gourmet products. The cost of 1 liter can reach 30 dollars and more, and milk yield from a camel can be more than a thousand liters per year. The meat of these animals is not as in demand as wool and milk. And yet, some farms also sell it, the average price for 1 kg is $ 20.
Selling young animals and breeding animals or leasing them to private and municipal zoos, circuses, nature reserves is another source of profit from a business idea.
You can sell a camel for an amount several times higher than the cost of its maintenance, but it is worth remembering that females have low fertility (1 cub every 2 years).
Lack of competition, small expenses for keeping animals, allow camel farms to earn quite good money. Profit from the sale of wool and milk, even a small farm can reach 30 thousand USD. per year, with established contacts with restaurant chains and delicatessen outlets and the supply of meat to them, as well as the sale of young animals - more than $ 60,000 per year.
Especially for KHOBIZ.RU
Quite an exotic branch of animal husbandry for Russia. Nevertheless, we simply do not have serious reasons not to engage in camel breeding. These animals are quite unpretentious to the conditions of detention, therefore they equally well tolerate the climate of the southern Volga region and the Far Eastern Arctic, not to mention the western regions with a temperate climate.
Camel industry
Modern camels are represented by two types - one-humped and two-humped. One-humped camels were tamed and domesticated about 6 thousand years ago, that is, simultaneously with horses. Two-humped - two thousand years later.
In those parts of the world where camels are bred, they are important either as pack animals or as a source of valuable milk, meat, wool and skin. In hot countries, these animals are kept in a semi-nomadic way, mainly on free grazing. In regions where winters are characterized by a significant (below zero) decrease in temperature, animals are kept in sheds and covered pens in a loose way.
Working camels are valued for their unparalleled endurance and ability to easily endure the most extreme conditions. weather doing hard physical work. As a pack animal, a camel is able to travel 30-40 km per day, carrying 250-300 kg of cargo. And although it is inferior to a horse in terms of speed of movement, the duration of transitions and the amount of cargo carried, on the contrary, are greater.
As a source of meat, milk and wool, camels are in many ways comparable to cows. With an average weight of animals of 500-700 kg and a meat yield of 55-60%, 250-350 kg of meat can be obtained from them. Milk yields are not impressive - 1500-2000 liters per year from a dairy camel, but the fat content of camel milk is almost twice as high as that of cow milk. Camel milk also contains three times more vitamin C and 10 times more iron.
Bactrian camels are larger, stronger and more productive, especially the Kalmyk breed. However, some hybrids of two-humped and one-humped camels are characterized by even greater size and endurance.
Camel breeding in Russia and in the world
Initially, camels adapted to living in hot arid regions of the planet, where other large herbivores could not survive. Several thousand years have passed since the domestication of these animals, but camels are still bred almost exclusively in desert and semi-desert regions.
Today, camel breeding plays an important role in animal husbandry only in some Arab-Muslim countries with a significant area of deserts and semi-deserts. These are mainly countries of the Near and Middle East, as well as North Africa. Almost exclusively one-humped camels are bred here, more adapted specifically to the heat. The importance of camel breeding in these countries is associated not so much with the usefulness of animals, but with the need for traction for transport and Agriculture. Simply put, due to the total poverty of the population, people are forced to use camels instead of cars and tractors.
The situation is different with the countries of Central Asia, formerly part of the USSR. Although, with the exception of richer Kazakhstan, their standard of living is comparable to that of the Arab world, camels (mostly two-humped ones) are bred here mainly for their meat, milk and wool. But their use as pack animals also takes place.
Australia stands apart, where camels were brought in the century before last to transport goods in the desert parts of the country, and today they are used exclusively for racing.
In general, the world population of camels is about 14 million animals, of which about half is concentrated in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East. For this reason, 90% of the world's livestock are one-humped camels. Adapted not only to heat, but also to frost, Bactrian camels are in demand mainly in Central Asia, Mongolia and China.
As for Russia, we have camels bred only in some regions adjacent to the zones where these animals were once found in wild nature. The most significant livestock to date has been recorded in the Astrakhan region (more than 4100 heads), Kalmykia (about 1000 heads), Altai (about 500 heads) and Transbaikalia (300 heads).
Is camel business possible in Russia?
Speaking about the fact that camel breeding is not traditional for Russia, we are somewhat sinning against the truth. Camels have never really been seriously bred in the regions that today belong to the Central, Central Black Earth, Northern and Northwestern economic regions. However, in the southern regions mentioned above (the Volga region and Southern Siberia), camels have been bred since time immemorial. And for these places camel breeding is very typical.
The only reason why camels are bred only in the south is the fact that in other regions it is more profitable to breed other types of livestock - cows, sheep, goats, deer. Camel breeding makes sense only if there are no suitable conditions for more productive animals in the area.
As already mentioned, in the world camels are bred mainly by residents of poor countries who need draft cattle. Since we do not have this problem, camel breeding in Russia is mainly focused on the production of meat, milk, wool and skins.
The main issue that worries entrepreneurs considering camel breeding as a possible direction for business is the prospects for marketing products. Since the vast majority of Russians have never tasted either camel meat or camel milk, there seems to be no demand for these products. However, the volumes of production of these products on a national scale are so negligible that de facto competition is also absent. Thus, you can find distribution channels if you correctly build a marketing strategy and present your products as a rare exotic that is worth trying.
To understand what market is potentially available, one statistic should be given: the city of Moscow alone eats more than 2.5 thousand tons of meat PER DAY! With such a scale of consumption, finding a niche for selling 100-200 kg of camel meat per day is not at all a problem. The main thing is to be able to correctly position your products.
How to start breeding camels?
Of course, before you start investing in creating a business, you first need to carefully calculate everything. Moreover, in the case of camels, providing conditions for keeping and purchasing young animals is by no means the main problem which needs to be dealt with. Since there is no tradition of eating camel meat and camel milk in Russia, you will first have to work out distribution channels, having at least preliminary agreements with several wholesale buyers (restaurants, shops, sausage shops).
It is quite possible that you will be able to find a market for your products only in another region, several hundred or even thousands of kilometers from the farm itself. Thus, it is necessary to study the issues of logistics and calculate whether it would be generally expedient to transport meat and milk over such a distance, and, if so, how transport costs can be minimized.
Registration of a camel farm
The creation of a camel farm in general differs little from the construction of an ordinary cattle farm with cows. After making sure that the enterprise will be profitable, you need to register with the local tax office as a peasant farm (KFH). You can also limit yourself to the status of an individual entrepreneur, but this will not give any significant advantages, since taxation under a simplified system is also available for peasant farms.
The KFH format also has clear advantages over LLCs, since the state is more actively helping small farms through benefits and subsidies. In principle, if you plan to start very small, for example, half a dozen animals, then you can go along the path of registering a personal subsidiary plot that does not pay taxes at all.
In addition to registering with the tax office, you must also coordinate your activities with the veterinary service. Obtaining a veterinary certificate can be quite a challenge, as there are many different standards and requirements for the quality of milk and meat. Moreover, the requirements are not only federal, but also local, which only complicates the task of the entrepreneur. You will spend much less money, time and effort if you seek help in this matter from a competent specialized lawyer from the very beginning.
In the best case, all bureaucratic issues will take you two or three months and 20-30 thousand rubles. But this is in the most optimistic version.
Farm site
The advantage of camels is that they can eat the worst and coarsest grass that other animals would never eat. To create a camel farm, neither rich water meadows nor steppe herbs are needed. In view of this, it is possible to rent or buy land rejected by other farmers for relatively little money - poor sandy plots, salt marshes, etc.
By the way, a good idea would be to open a small camel farm with a large livestock or crop farm. In this case, camels can be fed almost free food - rejected feed or even crop waste, which is not suitable for cows and sheep.
If you plan to open a farm in a sparsely populated region with huge no-man's land of steppes and semi-deserts, then you can completely limit yourself to buying / renting one or two hectares for building the necessary outbuildings. In this case most year, when the land is not covered with snow, animals can be kept on free range, that is, free food.
It is quite difficult to calculate even approximately the amount of funds needed for the construction of pens, sheds, a cutting and cutting shop and other outbuildings. Too much depends on the scale and format of the enterprise. But in any case, you need to proceed from the fact that at the very beginning you will have to invest several million rubles.
Where to take animals?
If young cattle can be bought in any region of the country, then for camels you will have to go to one of the few camel breeding farms located in the Volga region or Southern Siberia. There, for one camel they will take about 70 thousand rubles, for an adult it is even more expensive. However, it makes no sense to buy adult animals, since they will not pay for themselves. If desired, you can buy livestock abroad - in Kazakhstan or other countries of Central Asia.
You should buy young animals only after consulting with a specialist who will tell you the optimal age and the quantitative ratio of purchased males and females. However, if the farm works in relative proximity (not more than fifty kilometers) from another farm where there are males, then it is possible to get by with camels alone. In this case, the male can be brought to them for insemination once every few months. And while insemination services will have to be paid for, this approach may be more beneficial in terms of cost balance.
Personnel search and other organizational issues.
Camels are considered more capricious (in terms of character) than cows. But this is true only if they are used as beasts of burden. Caring for an ordinary meat and dairy herd is much easier. In fact, one or two cattle breeders will be enough to manage several dozen animals. Since no one trains specialists in camel care in Russia educational institution, these positions will have to be hired simply by experienced cattle breeders who know how to deal with cattle.
27. 02. 2014 2 712By the age of 25, the newly minted entrepreneur Ilnar Girfanov managed to try himself in various guises. Lawyer - by education, social activist - by vocation, farmer - by the call of the soul.
Author of a number of scientific publications in Russian and English. Multiple scholarship recipient of the Charitable Foundation. V. Potanin. Winner of high awards, including Thank You Letter President Russian Federation V.V. Putin, Letter of Gratitude from the Chairman of the Board of the Association of Lawyers of Russia I.E. Manylov. Today, Ilnar Girfanov is the managing director of the camel farm "LAIDOYA", which was established in May last year. The unusual name stands for simply: "LAI" means the location of the farm - the Laishevsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan, "DOYA" (translated from the Tatar language, "doya" means "camel"). Thus, the only camel breeding farm in the entire Volga Federal District arose on Laishevsky land, in which everything is valuable: milk, wool, meat and even hooves. The inspirer of the project is Svetlana Kirichenko - the head of the Russian research center. Working under her supervision, Ilnar studied the work of agricultural enterprises. Soon the accumulated research material resulted in the idea of creating his own business.
“Initially, we did not know which direction of agriculture to focus on. Options for breeding peacocks, llamas, bellied pigs, domestic moles were considered. The idea of camels came much later. And I thought about the legal justification of the business project,” Ilnar recalls.
Then study trips to Kazakhstan, Egypt, UAE. Members of the Tatarstan delegation studied everything: the features of keeping, feeding, breeding, milking camels, their character. In our country, camels are perceived as exotic animals. However, during the time of the Volga Bulgaria, they historically lived on the territory of Tatarstan. For ancestors, these were animals common to the local landscape. “We consider the breeding of camels in their historically native environment as a kind of mission to restore what was lost in Soviet times camel breeding. We believe that in our time the camel will become a familiar addition to the local landscape.”
150 Bactrians of the Kalmyk breed now live on the LAIDOYA farm. Everyone has their own name such as Aydin, Burkhan, Delgan, etc.; passports, where relatives are indicated up to the third knee. Three males are already accustomed to the attention of visitors. Females with cubs live separately. A camel bears offspring for 13 months. At a time, the female produces only one stallion and never two. The cub stays with its mother for up to 8 months. Camels live on average up to 75 years. So, in her life, a camel can give offspring 40 times. Camels feel great both in 30-degree heat and at minus 30 °C. They are unpretentious and hardy. Closer to winter, they become covered with thick hair and do not feel the harsh Russian cold.
Camels are walking animals, they need a lot of space. According to the business plan, two large plots were purchased - 10 hectares of land in the Laishevsky district and 100 hectares in the Kamsko-Ustyinsky district of Tatarstan. A full-fledged farm with administration and workers has been created in the Laishevsky district. The total staff is 16 people. On the territory of the farm, seven spacious paddocks have been created, between them a walking route for tourists has been laid. In the same pens for camels, sheds are equipped for wintering and from rain. In the future, there will also be a souvenir shop, a milking shop, and catering establishments. Exactly the same infrastructure is planned to be built in Kamskoye Ustye. You can look at the Bactrians today. All guests are welcome on the farm. The entrance ticket costs 200 rubles. This includes an excursion with an exciting story about the "ships of the desert", rental of tents for recreation. In the East, the mere contemplation of a camel is equated with therapy. Camel calms, relieves stress, which is noted by many tourists.
“I often lead tours myself, although every employee can do it. Before recruiting staff, we conducted a thorough training and education of specialists. Many employees are residents of nearby villages. Thus, I believe that we are also fulfilling a social mission - the employment of people from the village, who are often unclaimed, ”says Ilnar Girfanov.
Problems with the search for qualified personnel may arise in the future. After all, the plans of the management of the farm are to establish the production of camel milk, meat, wool and develop agritourism, which is emerging in Tatarstan. According to calculations, the most profitable direction will be the production of milk. Its price ranges from 1300 to 1700 rubles per liter. The fact is that this milk acquires its unique healing properties only with the proper maintenance and nutrition of animals. And milking itself is a laborious and expensive process. A camel gives milk within a year and a half after the appearance of offspring. There is a great demand for meat. It is a dietary product, widely used in the treatment of cancer and promotes male longevity. Of course, there will be no slaughter shop on the territory of the farm. Meat will only be sold in live weight. Camel wool makes magnificent scarves, sweaters, stoles, socks, slippers, pillows, bed linen, carpets.
AT Eastern countries It is customary to carry a bag of camel hair with you. People believe that she brings good luck in everything. “We plan to conclude an agreement with Turkmenistan for the production of handmade carpets from camel wool. We have held preliminary negotiations. Therefore, after the first tonsure, a batch of camel down will go to the factories. On average, one camel produces six kilograms of wool, which has an excellent warming effect. This property expands blood vessels, increasing blood microcirculation and metabolism, which effectively treats neuritis, osteochondrosis, neuralgia, rheumatism and arthritis. Only camel hair is not electrified and is the best way to relieve static stress. It repels dust and protects us from exposure to electromagnetic fields. Eastern belief says: "The presence of camel hair in the house brings good luck." The modern beauty industry makes extensive use of lanolin (animal wax). As part of creams, serums, it actively acts on skin cells, giving it elasticity and softness. One of the largest cosmetic corporations has already approached the management of LAIDOYA with a proposal for cooperation.
The launch of such an ambitious and high-profile project for Tatarstan required considerable investments. Investments amounted to about 23 million rubles. However, no loans were taken. In the future, it is planned to invest another 20 million. No wonder, because on average a purebred breeding Bactrian costs from 150 to 300 thousand rubles, some individuals are estimated at 400 thousand rubles. The price depends on the breed of the animal, age, transportation and mandatory veterinary work. According to Ilnar Girfanov, the payback period for the project is two years. “The business component, of course, has not been canceled, but the project also has a charitable mission. Now we are happy to host children from orphanages with cerebral palsy, organize excursions for rural schoolchildren. In addition, the topics of future dissertations are “walking” here. We hope that with our light hand the air in Tatarstan will even appear the department of camel breeding. But in the near future - to create a legal basis for agritourism. We are preparing our proposals for the law "On agritourism", which should appear in Russia soon. After that, I think many graduates of agricultural institutes will be interested in implementing bold projects.”
Among the sandy "mountains" of the desert, a majestic ship "floats" ... What do you think - who are we talking about? Well, of course, about the camel. Since ancient times, this animal has been called just that - “ship of the desert”. And there is no longer an animal in the world that can endure the scorching sun, while carrying a heavy load. Bactrian and single humped camels are truly unique animals of their kind.
Appearance of a camel
At present, two species of these animals have survived on our planet: camels with one hump (dromedaries) and two-humped camels (Bactrians). Outwardly, they differ not only in the number of humps.
Dromedaries have a more slender build. They have long legs, thanks to which they are able to run very fast. The growth of an average one-humped camel reaches 2.5 meters, and the weight at the same time ranges from 300 to 700 kilograms. The coat color of dromedaries is predominantly ash-yellow.
In addition to the presence of two humps, the distinctive features of Bactrians are considered to be thick wool, higher height (up to 2.7 meters) and weight (up to 800 kilograms), as well as a color that has a gray-yellow tint.
What are camel humps? Contrary to popular belief that the animal has a large supply of water in the hump, it is worth saying that this part of the camel's body consists of 100% adipose tissue. And appearance humps speaks directly about the physical condition of the animal. If a camel is in excellent shape, full and healthy, then its humps stick up when the animal is emaciated or sick, then the hump may sag or completely disappear.
Where do dromedaries and bactrians live?
The habitat of one-humped camels is considered mainly Africa. But they can also be found in the central part of Asia. More than 100 years ago, dromedaries were even brought to the Australian continent.
Bactrians are inhabitants of the Asian part of the Eurasian continent. They live in Mongolia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Kalmykia.
It is worth noting that in the wild, camels are becoming less and less common, since they are massively domesticated by humans (especially Bactrians).
Camel behavior and lifestyle
Deserts and semi-deserts with their low trees and thorny bushes are ideal for camels to live and inhabit. Camels are sedentary animals, although it is common for them to make long journeys within their territories. In the daytime, they prefer to lie down, chewing gum, and when night falls, they go to bed.
Listen to the voice of a humped camel
Camels are very good swimmers, despite their height and weight.
A feature of Bactrians is their frost resistance. Thanks to its thick wool, they perfectly tolerate low temperatures (up to minus 40 degrees), but heat and drought are very destructive for them. What can not be said about dromedaries: they prefer the hot sun more than the cold.
What do camels eat, two-humped and one-humped camels
Camels are ruminant herbivores. They are unpretentious in food and can feed on the most meager plants, such as bitter herbs, thorny branches, etc. Thanks to its fat reserves in the hump, the animal can do without food for about a month!
camel breeding
The mating season for these animals begins in winter months(December - February).
Bearing offspring lasts a year, and sometimes several months more. After birth, baby camels feed on mother's milk. A few hours after birth, the cubs are already on their feet and follow their mother. Full maturation of the offspring occurs in the fifth year of life. The life expectancy of these animals is about 40 - 50 years.
Natural enemies of the camel
Usually, none of the animals attacks adults. But the same cannot be said about small camels: they are a favorite object
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