At Kamelenmelkerij Smits, just a stone’s throw from Den Bosch, more than a hundred camels are kept. It is the only professional camel dairy farm in Europe. The (raw) milk is sold not only in the Netherlands but also in France and England. Dorieke Goodijk enjoys pioneering. However, strict regulations make the journey far from easy.
Dorieke has been involved in the company since 2011, after her husband, Frank Smits, started it in 2006 with just three camels. The camels attract both local and international tourists, who can feed the calves or make camel milk pancakes. The farm also hosts corporate events and has a meeting space. But running the business isn’t easy. "Sometimes I wonder whether we would have managed to navigate all the laws and regulations if I hadn’t worked at the Ministry and the Province before, and whether we would still exist?"
"We have many customers with health issues, both from the Netherlands and from Germany, France, and Belgium. Camel milk is often consumed by children with a cow’s milk allergy or a weakened immune system. Many people also experience benefits for eczema, psoriasis, or constipation. Camel milk contains so many nutrients, and the positive effects of many of them haven’t even been fully researched yet. Take lactoferrin, for example, a substance that is now being synthetically produced because it appears to help people with long COVID, camel milk naturally contains plenty of it. We export and sell a lot through our webshop. We can freeze the milk ourselves to -18°C, which makes it last for a year. In partnership with Ikwileerlijkezuivel.nl, which has taken over a powder factory in Ommen, we also produce powdered camel milk. That camel milk powder is shipped worldwide."
"When you see camel milk on store shelves, it’s often ours. Most of the time, it’s raw milk, though we sometimes pasteurize it upon request. The only other company selling pasteurized camel milk in the Dutch market is Camelicious, a large-scale camel dairy from Dubai owned by the royal family. They sell their milk in Europe at a slightly lower price than ours. What we emphasize is that we comply with all European regulations regarding production processes and product quality, and we place a huge focus on animal welfare. Of course, there will always be people who simply choose the cheapest option. In England, one of our retailers can offer milk at a lower price via Camelicious, that makes it challenging to explain why our product is better. The key difference is that our milk is raw and untreated (only frozen, of course), which is what many of our customers specifically seek out. Additionally, we have a loyal customer base in Europe that keeps coming back because they experience the benefits of our camel milk firsthand."
(Laughs) "We’re still waiting for the first-ever camel milking robot from Lely or DeLaval! The system we currently use is one we developed ourselves. We milk the camels twice a day with the calves present. Each time, we get about three liters, and then the calves drink the rest from their mothers. We estimate that’s about half of the total milk production. At the Dubai camel dairy farm, they milk between 12 and 15 liters per day, but they separate the calves during milking. They also use substances that we’re not allowed to use—and wouldn’t want to use anyway. We believe that milking with the calves present is the most natural approach. As long as they can see each other and stay close, the camel continues producing milk."
"Previously, dairy farms could only sell raw milk directly from the tap or tank. The rules have been slightly relaxed. They now have to meet the same strict guidelines that we’ve been following for years, that means additional milk testing to ensure the absence of harmful bacteria like STEC (Shiga toxin-producing E. coli). No one wants people to get sick from raw milk simply because they didn’t boil it properly. We aim for the highest standards—keeping our animals healthy and ensuring the milk is safe. The mandatory testing will increase costs for dairy farmers selling raw milk. I understand that this will be a financial hurdle for some, especially since the current price for milk at the tap doesn’t always cover these costs. But you could also see it as a wake-up call—raw cow’s milk is worth far more than the €1 per liter it’s often sold for. It has so many beneficial properties. In the U.S., there’s a large ‘raw milk movement’ where people recognize the value of unprocessed milk. Ideally, dairy farmers should be able to charge at least €2 to €3 per liter. For reference, our camel milk costs €12 per liter."
"It varies from year to year. During the COVID period, our only income came from milk sales since visitors weren’t allowed. In other years, for example, if the stallions don’t breed well, we have fewer calves and therefore less milk. On average, 60% of our income comes from milk sales. The rest comes from various excursions and programs for different target groups. We offer things like a safari with lunch and birthday parties for local children. No one just stops by ‘for free’ to see the camels. It’s a great way for us as agricultural entrepreneurs to show people what we do, and visitors always have a fantastic day. Plus, it creates local job opportunities, both in animal care and tourism. But at the core, we’re a dairy farm—not a tourist attraction with a few camels on the side!"
"Dromedaries are one-humped camels. In other countries, there’s no distinction, and they’re simply called camels. In the Netherlands, dromedaries (Camelus Dromedarius) are still not on the Ministry of Agriculture’s approved livestock list, while two-humped camels (Camelus Bactrianus) are. According to international scientists, camels and dromedaries are essentially the same species. We’ve been working on this issue for two years, proving that there’s virtually no difference—especially in terms of domestication, which is the key criterion for the list, and still the dromedary is not on it. We know the dossier well, but despite the scientific evidence, the ministry has simply decided something and won’t budge. We are constantly working on exemptions and need almost 1FTE of labor to keep a close eye on this file and respond in a timely manner.
This severely limits our business operations: we can’t sell our calves in the Netherlands anymore, so they have to go to Eastern Europe, meanwhile, two-humped camels can be imported into the Netherlands from all over Europe. We also can’t slaughter our calves, yet camel fat is imported from Morocco, and camel burgers are sold in Friesland with camel meat from Australia. The regulations are completely illogical! On average once every two years we have an animal that dies or doesn’t get pregnant. If they didn’t get pregnant, we used to sell them to a park of zoo. Now we have no idea where they can end up. The animals can live up to 25 years, we still have the first calves that were born no our farm in 2007.
As an agricultural entrepreneur in the Netherlands, you have interest groups that solve many of the above problems for you trough lobbying. For just one camel farmer that makes no sense, so we usually have to do it all by ourselves. Fighting for new developments is fine, but fighting to keep what you have is very tiring. We also have to deal with the issues that other cattle farms are up against: our permit has space for two hundred camels, but we are not growing that fast with our own gain, nor can we suddenly buy a hundred camels somewhere. Now that the province of Brabant wants to withdraw the latent space and is legally allowed to do so, we don’t know how much we can continue to grow. I really understand very well that other agricultural entrepreneurs become despondent about all the conflicting laws and regulations. As pioneers, it is a huge task to keep making the right choices in order to keep developing.”
"Camels are incredibly relaxed animals. They’ve been selectively bred for thousands of years to be tame and naturally seek contact with humans. They’re also very curious. When you enter the barn in the morning, you’ll hear a low murmur as a greeting. And when you open the barn doors to let them into the pasture, they start bellowing loudly. They’re huge animals, so when you walk among them, you have to be careful—they might accidentally step on your foot or push you over. That’s a bit different from working with a goat or a calf, but they’re naturally gentle creatures.
The camel milk market is a fascinating niche market with plenty of potential. You do have to figure everything out yourself. And there is still a lot to discover in terms of new products and entrepreneurship, for example by offering new services on the farm. The combination with tourism is nice, sometimes people come here who want to develop new products with us. That’s how our Cameleys liqueur coma into being. Fortunately, we still see more opportunities than obstacles!"
This article also appeared on Foodbusiness.nl
Main photo: ©Jonna Bruinsma
Source: Vakblad Voedingsindustrie 2025
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