Developing mechanical milking in camels? Some main steps to take…

After a first phase of development in the ex-Soviet Union in the 1940s, camel mechanical milking is now developing again in the Arabic peninsula, North and East Africa, Asia, Australia and even in the USA and Europe in a lesser extent, because of the great demand and important health value of camel milk. Nevertheless, such a development remains empirical and uses trial and error methodology, which is generally more time-consuming and more expensive and could create a deadlock in the situation. Nevertheless, developing mechanical milking of camels could be done throughout a step by step well-designed approach rather than this empirical approach. It is the only way to understand the animal/machine interaction and to give us the means to adapt machine milking to the different situations encountered in the world and to animal specificities.After describing the different essential and ancillary steps of this development (knowledge of animal physiology, udder and teat shapes, teat functional characteristics, first functional data of milking including teat reaction, milk emission kinetic, efficiency of milk extraction, weaning procedure, milking procedure, milking behavior of animals, adaptation of material and settings…), we aim to relate, as example, the first results obtained in Tunisian dromedary camels in the last 4 years as basis for more adapted or even specific materials and setting evolution.