by Dot Cannon

When Gil Riegler goes to work, his colleagues are twenty-two camels.

Gil is the owner of America’s first camel farm: the Oasis Camel Dairy in Ramona, California.  When he and his wife Nancy first started their ranch, about twenty years ago, the sale of camels’ milk was illegal in the United States.

Over the past few years, Gil and Nancy have been at the forefront of efforts to change that legislation and bring the benefits of camels’ milk to the attention of the general public.  At this point, while the Rieglers still can’t sell milk from their camels to customers, they can legally sell both soap and chocolate made with camels’ milk.

Gil has been giving camel milking demonstrations at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa for the past two weeks–and you still have time to see his presentation before the Fair concludes this Sunday.   He and five of his dromedary charges will be onsite in the Fair’s Livestock Area–and what Gil will show you will challenge any preconceived notions you may have had, about the nature of camels.

After a recent presentation, Gil talked about the origins of his ranch and some of his experiences with the camels, and offered an update on his mission to legalize the sale of camels’ milk.

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