Who knew that camels could crawl?
That’s just one of the facts the audience learned recently, at Gil Riegler’s camel-milking demonstration at the Orange County Fair.
Gil and his wife Nancy opened the nation’s first camel dairy farm, the Oasis, in Ramona, California, in 2001. They now have twenty-one camels, and sell camel-milk soaps and camel-milk chocolate. (The sale of camel milk is currently not legal in California. However, the Rieglers are working with the USDA on establishing a grade-A dairy platform.)
During his presentation, Gil spent thirty minutes working with five “special guests.” He exploded a lot of the commonly-held misconceptions about camels: his dromedary “family members” were responsive, affectionate and appeared to enjoy all the attention.
After he finished milking “Sheba,” the mother camel, Gil led “Goldie” to the paddock fence and allowed audience members to pet her during his Q and A on camels.
She felt just slightly softer than a cashmere sweater.
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