When I look at this picture, my heart swells with joy. The mother camel in the foreground is Leala. She is Jasmine's mother. She is the camel we almost lost to postpartum acute kidney failure. This picture tells us two very important things about her current health status:
Firstly, her nose is buried in the green grass as she clips and chews bite after bite. Her terrific appetite tells us she is well on her way to recovery. Secondly, look at the size of the hump on baby Jasmine! (Jasmine is the calf pictured closest to Leala) That tall, pronounced hump indicates this baby is getting plenty of milk from mom! With a great appetite, good milk production and a healthy, bright alert baby, all of us here at the Oasis Camel Dairy are breathing huge, happy sighs of relief!
The second baby in the photo (the one on the far left) is Princess Knuckles. The last of our babies born in February. If you remember (see post FOUR BABY CAMELS: Feb 24) Knuckles was born very large with contracted tendons. She could barely stand and walk. We had to feed her with a bottle and hope that her humongous legs would straighten. Well, just look at those beautiful legs! And while you are looking; notice how much Knuckles and Jasmine look alike. They are like twins! The amazing thing is that Knuckles is two weeks younger than Jasmine! A normal birth weight weight for a camel is about 75 lbs. Knuckles tipped the scales at 120 lbs at birth.
Lastly, you can see a very large camel in the background. That is Sheba, Knuckles mother. This is the most exciting picture of our dairy: Three generations! We bought Sheba seven years ago. She gave birth to Leala who is now five years old. And there is little baby Jasmine, our very first, second generation birth right here at our farm.
What a sight!
You can meet our wonderful camels in person. Go to our official website: http://www.cameldairy.com/ and click on TOURS.
You can even schedule a 30 minute, Camel Safari Adventure ride.
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