Interresting model to research the best traits! As physiologist, I Think that there is no direct link between coat color and milk production but, this mutation could be associated with others at the metabolic or homonal levels (to be verified!). About, hump,  i is clear that a big one signify an acretion metabolism (generally superior in meat breed in ruminants) rather than a mobilisation of ressources for lactation. It is normal that this trait was considered as antagonist but a big one also signify that the food quality and quantity is good and even in excess. Also, you have to be careful with feeding of young aniamals becaus ea too fat animals (with big Hump too!) could signify that fat deposition in udder will be opposed to fat pad de-differentiation in mammary gland that limit udder secretory tissu development and future milk potential (It is often recommended in cows to limit feeeding around puberty for this reason!).  About all traits concerning fertility, as for cows and because reproductive function is a luxury function fonctionning only when all the productives function are equilibrated with metabolic possibilities, It is also normal that generally, theses traites are better in animals dried or non producing because of udder pb. But we can (and have to!) found and propose management of animals that permit good lactation and milking and sufficient efficiency in reproductive, maternal and behavioral function . Finally,  all traits of body development (chest, distance between rib bone, bigger belly... ) is naturally favorable to milking production (as in other ruminants) because animals have generally better ingestion capacities and thus ability to support maintenance and productive requirements simultaneously. Al theses traits are of importance intra-breed more than betwen breed or intra-species where they can differ in big proportion and mask intrabreed impacts...Lot of work to do! Best regards

Hi Raziq ,

Working on the final draft of an article dealing exactly with this issue.  A little more patience !

Usually dairy characteristics could be determined by type evaluation. Desirable conformations such as general openness and angularity are often associated with milk production performance. 

The question is very simple, if anybody knows with science and experience the phenotypic dairy traits/confirmation traits. I want to proceed this discussion and compile and share it with the people interested in camel dairy traits.

Ghulam your point is taken and in the next few weeks I will submit an article exactly on this topic, it could be  a start for an interesting discussion.    

for sure camel, some people say camel cow. So there must be no confusion. We can better use the word Naqa instead of camel cow.

Body condition scoring with INGENERA BODYMAT. It is a portable measurement device to measure the BCS of cows, goats, horses (not yet on camel).

BCS is useful for breeding purpose. Yes, in camels, I used BCS to understand and quantify the resistance of camels in feed scarcity situation. The mobile herds of Afghan nomads were more strong and lost their weight in 4 months trial period when the natural vegetation was very scares because of dry period and cold weather. On contrary the local Kohi camel lost their weight quicker.

Yes, Linear type traits are very good to understand the actual milk production potential. Thanks to all colleagues once again.

Hi Dr Kakar, It's a pity, you can't reach our meeting in Tunisia last week..We discussed a lot about this point. For all the colleagues on RG I can explain that we have a project of international network about milking ability in camels driven by Tunisian colleagues and me. All researcher having access to dairy camels and interested in collecting specific traits on their animals will be welcome. Traits are generally morphological (external-body, udder, teats) but also functional (Behavior/easyness of milking, milk performances (quantity and quality), milking duration (manual of mechanical when possible..), teat opening, milk flow and so on. As writen befor ICAR summarize this measurement important for genetic selection for cows and small ruminants. Our work aims to propose any specific traits/or way to measure in camels in order to obtain comparable data. Maurizio, Please send me your aper ASAP in order to complete our protocol for this international program.

Bets regards

you can find the linear traits for dairy cattle evaluation on icar.org

Dear Abdul Raziq

Please note that the BCS is only an index for body reserves. Thus a higher BCS means a fatter animal. Optimum management and feeding strategies are needed  BCS is needed to optimize BCS to adjust energy metabolism during initial negative energy balance at early lactation. As I mentioned before, lactation characteristics are related to some conformation traits such as angularity, wide ribs,  general openness and so on. If there is no information on milking properties in type evaluation of camel, you can conduct a new research to explore new criteria in the camel. However, priority of meat or milk productions should be considered first.

Truly

Zamani

Dear all,

Ingenera is encouraging the use of its BodyMat portable and fixed devices to measure the Body Condition Score in new species (like camels). We are open to cooperate in research programs. Feel free to contact me for more info.

Kind regards

Dear Razik,

As I know, milk potential in Maghrebi camels is related to some conformation and coat traits such as fitness and sleek and heavy hair. In South of Tunisia, female with these phenotypic criteria is named Nagga Khawar (Photo 1). Female with rough and thick fiber is called Harcha (Photo 2). Excessive body condition score note (big hump) is generally negative correlated to the milk potential. Please see attached pdf file.

Sincerely,

In any camel "breed" a big hump in a female is indicative of an animal with irregular breeding/sterility, a damaged udder (chronic mastitis) or with poor maternal skills (calf rejection) all factors that negate or are a serious obstacle to a good lactation   

Dear Pierre, Hammadi,

Thanks for your interest and feedback. I could not manage to attend such a precious meeting of camel scientists regarding camel milk and milking aspects. It was a sad situation for me.

Yes, camel hump is very good phenotypic trait to know the worth of the dairy potential among other traits. Easy milking (shorter AMT), high yield, high persistency, longevity, alertness, politeness, regurgitation during milking, wide chest, chest barrel, distance between rib bone, bigger belly etc are good sign. Please consider me member of your team to research/study camel dairying aspects project.

yes you are! no pb, we will exchange about this point ASAP. best regards

In a study, we conducted in Suleiman Mountainous Region of Balochistan it was found that the white color mountainous camel (Kohi) produces more milk than the same breed but fawn body coat camel. The fawn camel is locally called as Spole Kohi while white one is called White Kohi. It was very significant difference. So the coat color is also important. Also, the white is more polite while milking than the other. On contrary for work Spole was better with wide chest and very much good for work in mountainous region.

Interresting model to research the best traits! As physiologist, I Think that there is no direct link between coat color and milk production but, this mutation could be associated with others at the metabolic or homonal levels (to be verified!). About, hump,  i is clear that a big one signify an acretion metabolism (generally superior in meat breed in ruminants) rather than a mobilisation of ressources for lactation. It is normal that this trait was considered as antagonist but a big one also signify that the food quality and quantity is good and even in excess. Also, you have to be careful with feeding of young aniamals becaus ea too fat animals (with big Hump too!) could signify that fat deposition in udder will be opposed to fat pad de-differentiation in mammary gland that limit udder secretory tissu development and future milk potential (It is often recommended in cows to limit feeeding around puberty for this reason!).  About all traits concerning fertility, as for cows and because reproductive function is a luxury function fonctionning only when all the productives function are equilibrated with metabolic possibilities, It is also normal that generally, theses traites are better in animals dried or non producing because of udder pb. But we can (and have to!) found and propose management of animals that permit good lactation and milking and sufficient efficiency in reproductive, maternal and behavioral function . Finally,  all traits of body development (chest, distance between rib bone, bigger belly... ) is naturally favorable to milking production (as in other ruminants) because animals have generally better ingestion capacities and thus ability to support maintenance and productive requirements simultaneously. Al theses traits are of importance intra-breed more than betwen breed or intra-species where they can differ in big proportion and mask intrabreed impacts...Lot of work to do! Best regards

Thanks for detailed and relevant reply. I appreciate your feedback and input. Hope we shall find ways to transform information into knowledge regarding the emerging camel milking profession.

I found a very interesting article on the subject.Best regard

Relationship between udder morphology traits, alveolar

and cisternal milk compartments and machine milking

performances of dairy camels (Camelus dromedarius).

Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research 2013 11(3): 790-797

Thanks Adriano very much.

I'm really looking/expacting a group of expert to organize and keep close collaboration. Camel dairy science is an emerging world.

My recently submitted article to Journal of Camel Practice and Research :TOWARDS A RATIONAL CAMEL BREED JUDGING: A PROPOSED STANDARD OF A CAMEL (Camelus dromedarius) MILK BREED, is addressing these question.

In the meantime the essential physiological traits of good camel milking females in my opinion are: 

Age and weight 1st calving:  4 years  at 500 kg bw or over

Female mothering instinct: Gentle, allows anybody to approach the calf and touch the udder 

Calving interval: 2 years (verified over several reproduction cycles)

Lactation length: 12 months (While in nomadic pastoral areas lactations over 12 months are common (14-16 months) under an improved husbandry system it is better to select for 12 months long lactations that allows higher daily yields) 

Lactation daily yield at the 4-6th months of lactation: 10 liters or more 

Milk let down reflex: easy even in unfamiliar areas

Milking duration:   Over 1.5-2 minutes or longer