We never leave home without a weapon in the vehicle.
And sometimes you take two weapons, depending on what's going on
two different types of weapons, for two different types of jobs.
I was taught how to use a weapon before I was taught how to drive.
Guns are a really important part of life, and an essential part of life out here.
Did you see that dog?
Nup, where?
Well he just ran straight across the flat. He's up under - see? Up under the tree.
It's really important to keep control of feral animals.
Whether it's wild dogs, whether it's rabbits, whether it's camels.
The biggest feral problem that we've ever encountered, is the camels.
If we see a camel, then we try and put it on the ground. Ash is a better shot than me, but I do it as well.
Last year we shot over 2,000 camels
in a week, on Curtin Springs.
From the ground, and from the air.
When we see mobs of thousands of camels, it looks heartbreaking.
Because we know, certainly we know now the damage that we're going to have to fix
after they've been through.
When the camels first came through and hit us, in a matter of three or four months
we'd lost over 140kms of fencing.
Hundred and forty odd kilometres of fencing is $280,000.
We have spent well over a million dollars on the control of camels on this property
just so we can try and keep the cattle side of it profitable.
If we didn't control the feral animals, then the ecosystem, the balance in the ecosystem
wouldn't survive. You are working with the land, every day.
It's a very emotional, and heartfelt connection.
If we hadn't shot thousands of camels over the period of time
that we've been here, and tried to control the numbers
the station is just not economical.
It's much easier to milk a camel, if you also have a great relationship with the baby.
It's really important.
The current market price in Australia for camel milk is $25 a litre.
- Wow, look at the cream on that - Look at that!
We will be the first dairy in Australia to bottle, pasteurised camel's milk and put it on the shelf
for every day Australians to consume.
This is Philomena, she was originally came out of the desert as a weanling.
Not terribly well-trained, we've still got a lot of work to do with her
but um, we'll just take our time. Her baby's only about a month old now.
We keep our babies on, with them for up to two years, when we milk them.
I would say probably half of ours originated from the desert.
Fanny, Fanny!
I know you see me.
Come on. Show us that beautiful face!
I love cuddles and kisses with the camels.
Because they just love affection so much.
People are pretty surprised, pretty shocked
when I tell them my mum has a camel farm, I usually wait until the third date to tell a guy.
Camel's milk has been drunk for 6000 years.
They are the oldest domesticated animal on earth. It's just that Australians haven't been drinking it.
And have overlooked an animal, that survived very beautifully on our continent.
I think anybody screws their nose up at anything they don't understand or know.
It tastes like cow's milk. It's just slightly saltier.
So I drink about a third of a cup of camel's milk every morning. I've got Irritable Bowel Syndrome
I was diagnosed with that a few years ago.
I'm gluten and lactose intolerant, and I find that it helps enormously.
And I feel so much better for it. Yeah.
That is actually Australia's first camel milk cheese.
We're sourcing all the milk from a local camel herd.
It has taste and properties that are quite unique and special.
The fact that these camels are otherwise wild, in the middle of Australia
this is a great story of Australian ingenuity, really. I think this is just such new territory for all Australia.
The United States government allows no camel to be imported into the United States
unless they came from Australia.
Camels in Australia are disease resistant compared to camels in other parts of the world.
Our shortcoming is that we don't have enough camels here.
We cannot meet the demand for the milk in the United States at this time.
The camel industry world-wide is exploding.
They culled 160,000 camels in the desert areas, in the range land desert areas of Australia,.
They strew the desert lands with 160,000 carcasses.
It was absolutely appalling, short-sighted and ignorant.
Quite often we get emails where, we're abused, accused, slandered.
Because we should be doing something different with the camels, we should just go out and pick them up
and put them in the yard. If we could do it, probably we would do it.
The fundamental cost for us is to get the animals in the yard is more than what somebody will pay for them.
I don't blame any pastoralist in central Australia
for culling camels because that's how they need to manage their lands.
I think the government needs to support industry, to manage camels.
Given the numbers of feral camels, a camel milk industry in Australia
is not going to have an impact on the feral numbers. It's not going to solve the feral camel problem.
Because they're going to keep breeding.
And yes it does, it hurts. It really does hurt. It's not easy.
And I mean whether you're talking about a camel or a dingo, or a cow or whatever
you look at those big brown eyes, they drill right through you.