Baby Season at QCamel can be the most exciting but also the most dangerous time of the year. There’s the anticipation of new arrivals: boy or girl, who will find it, who will name it, what little personality will it be? But the threat of wild dogs in recent years has made us ultra-nervous and ever vigilant. One year we lost half of our newborns to dog attacks; some we never ever saw be born, the mother was pregnant one day and just not pregnant with no baby the next. Our neighbouring cattle farmers have lost 40 calves this season alone.

We have four Mareema dogs and three guard donkeys to protect our heard and are even thinking of getting guard guinea-fowl (but that’s another crazy story). THIS crazy story is the most dangerous baby birth and rescue we’ve ever seen at QCamel Dairy. This is Paige and Sage’s story on 14th October 2020.

While camels are extremely vocal and community-focused animals, they like to give birth in ultra-secrecy away from the rest of the herd. On Tuesday night, we noticed second time mumma Paige in labour, so we decided to keep her in an electric-fenced paddock for the safety of the baby. Camels are also extremely strong and crafty creatures – so needless to say, Paige escaped. Down a kilometre away to the tree paddock. Great.

Wednesday morning, we had a large Camel Cuddles tour and kept a close eye on Paige who was just visible along the edge of the tree line. We visited her with buckets of feed, soothing voices and calm hands. At one time, we thought the baby was breached and we needed to call a vet. This was a long labour after nearly 20 hours.

The last time we saw Paige at 2:30pm, she emerged for another feed into a clearing where we hope she would stay. Needless to say, she did not. Otherwise this would not be a crazy story. When we returned from lunch at 4:00pm, Paige was no-where to be found.

Cue an hour and a half of frantic searching. In the rain. Our daughter Yasmin walked a kilometre stretch of trees calling her name, each time going deeper and deeper into the bush trying to find her. Finally, our Mareema Snoopy alerted us to her. She had just given birth to a beautiful little grey baby Yasmin named Sage and was in the middle of birthing the placenta (QCamel rules: you find the baby, you name it!).

So this is where things get crazy. Paige had decided to give birth in possibly the most dangerous and hard to reach location on the farm. A kilometre away from the dairy and a further 20-30m into the most dense and overgrown bush on our land, right at dusk with light fading fast. The baby was also lodged in a hole and stuck against a tree and couldn’t move. As Yasmin did a perimeter check she then uncovered half a dozen dog dens nearby and countless snake holes. Oh yeah, this is Taipan country didn’t we tell you?? Just the cherry on top was that Yasmin’s phone has also just died. She couldn’t leave Paige and Sage having just found them. So, she did what any fair dinkum farm girl knows how to do. She let out a great big COOOOEEEEE for some help.

Celeste and Elise answered her call (not camels by the way, these are some of our amazing workers). As the three assessed the situation they realised that Paige was extremely aggressive and protective of her little one. Celeste crouched behind a tree attempting to shift the baby out of a hole and nearly got her head bitten off. Yasmin had to leg it 30m out of the bush while Paige stampeded her. Keep in mind, the grass was nearly over her head, there were no paths, just trees every three feet, holes and rotted logs everywhere, old gullys, dog dens (we mentioned that), spider webs (didn’t mention that) and a 600 KILO CAMEL CHASING ME AT FULL SPEED MUM YOU HAVE NO IDEA! Or so she told us quite calmly.

Yasmin somehow managed to crawl on her hands and knees through the bushes and drag the placenta out while Paige stood 4 feet from her. But it ripped. So, there she was loading a 10kilo placenta into a bucket and piles of bloody dirt so not to attract any dogs. Oh and Yasmin faints at the sight of blood. Terrible trait for farmer’s daughter we can tell you that.   Elise had managed to bring our old faithful ute down and parked it just outside the tree line. The three reassessed. It was now dark, far too dangerous to move either camel and Paige was getting more aggressive by the minute.

So we called in the troops. Dad/Peter, James, Harry and Lauren (although Lauren was a little late to the party. Bless her she’s just had knee surgery and can’t be gallivanting down the paddock!)

Using the light of just their phones Yasmin led James and Dad/Peter through the dense scrub to where they left Paige and the baby. But they couldn’t find her. Suddenly a tree branch snapped in the silence… and there she was.

We contemplated camping out all night, calling in dog trappers to guard her like a little mafia posse. But first we needed to re-re-assess. Why was she so aggressive? Well she could smell wild dogs nearby, the baby was shivering, stuck and couldn’t get up to drink. She knew she would die soon. She was also very, very hungry.

Relief washed over her as she ate yummy Lucerne from our big red bucket, never more than two feet from the baby. Easy kicking distance. James and Yasmin hid behind some trees. She could probably bite them but couldn’t trample them from there (you look for positives in all situations you know?)

James turns to Yasmin “I think I can reach her from here, just to get her out of the hole.” Dad/Peter continues to feed her and soothe her “You’re such a good mummy, yes you are. We are so proud of you.”

James crawls past Paige’s feet and grabs the baby. Her foot is wrapped around the tree. He unhooks her and drags her to behind the trees Yasmin is crouching at. Paige has somehow not yet noticed. A single sound from little Sage will alert her. James and Yasmin look at each other then quickly to Dad/Peter. James whispers “We’re gonna run for it.”

While Yasmin lights James with the phone, he picks up the baby. She’s a big girl, very difficult to lift and covered in slippery placenta. They can’t go around either side of Paige’s sight, so they just leg it deeper into the bush, in the dark, with no idea where they are headed. Hopefully the trees will stop a stampeding Mum if/when she notices. Dad/Peter is left in the pitch black with Paige.

They finally stumble out of the trees into a clearing. James has twisted his ankle and can’t carry her any further. But they are still 20m from the ute. So, like a relay race, James passes the baby to Yasmin. She legs it to the ute and lifts her onto the tray. Baby is finally kicking and lets out her first cry.

Now have you all seen Jurassic Park? The scene in every film where they hear a roar from the bushes, Mumma T-Rex emerges from the trees and starts chasing them in a car while someone sits in the back-seat yelling “faster, must go faster!”. Yeah… this is that scene.

Except, Yasmin bangs on the back console, Harry turns on the ute… and it stalls. We should have mentioned; the old faithful ute is the biggest hunk of junk you have ever seen. Side mirrors missing, clutch barely works, tray is ripped in half from over-zealous camels. There is no door panel on one door! A perfect farm truck. Harry starts it again; the parking break is stuck this time. Then the clutch won’t shift.

Pandemonium ensures. Paige has emerged from the bushes but it’s so dark she can’t see the baby. Yasmin is masking her smell as she cuddles her to stop her flailing. Dad/Peter and James are running up and down the paddock trying to herd her to the truck so she can see the baby and follow us, but not get too close because she still wants to kill them. Harry is frantically trying to get the truck to work so when she does see them, Yasmin won’t get her arm ripped off.

“Make the baby cry! She needs to hear her!”
“The baby is cold she’s can’t cry loud enough! Harry grab a jacket from the backseat and hand it to me.”
“I can’t see a jacke- WHAT THE HELL WHY IS THERE A BUCKET OF PLACENTA BACK HERE”  — Harry starts dry reaching
“Make her cry! Where is Paige? Oh there she is! Argh no THERE SHE IS! Shit. Make her cry quick!!!”
“James hand me your jumper. Sorry its gonna get placenta on it”

Do you know what a baby camel sounds like? It’s a weird mixture of a baby lamb and a zombie. 15 years of camels have taught us this sound. So naturally… Yasmin starts mewing like a baby camel.

“She heard it, keep making her cry!”
“That’s me. I’m the baby.”
“What the hell? It sounds so real. Keep going. It’s working”

The Ute however, is still not working. Then suddenly something emerges from the dark.

Its Lauren. The old cripple has finally stumbled down in the dark to our rescue. We hear heavenly music.

“Move over Harry, I got this.”

With her magical touch, the ute roars to life and starts chugging along. Baby is full flailing now. Yasmin wraps herself tight around little Sage: she sits her up with human legs wrapped around her camel body and her newborn neck and head draped over her Yasmin’s shoulder. This way she can soothe her and talk in her ear.

The drive back to the dairy is not easy. This is an old pine tree plantation so there are lots of rivets and old tree stumps. It’s very bumpy and baby and Yasmin are thrown around. Camel Mum is roaring along. We make it to the dairy, a herd has gathered to see what the commotion is. HONK HONK HONK “BLOODY MOOOOOVE CAMELS!”

We arrive in the holding yard and trap Paige in a little enclave. Yasmin stands up and lifts the baby down to Lauren. We finally see her full size. She is enormous. The size of a two week old. Ouch Mumma. No wonder she was angry!

But the team is tired and sore. We still had to get her to a fenced yard with the safety of the other new mums. The quickest way is to pass the newborn through three paddock fences. Someone holds down a wire, someone lifts a wire, someone holds the baby and steps through. Repeat the process.

They put her down then lead Paige into see her baby. Her relief is visible. She bends down and nuzzles and licks Sage in their first proper bonding moments (she was stuck in a bush for 3 hours after all!).

We all cheer and hug and congratulate each other. We are covered in dirt, sweat, thistles and for some of us, placenta. The rescue has taken 4 hours. It was the worst-case scenario with the best case outcome. Later in the early morning, trappers find a wild dog hiding just behind where the baby was born. Without the mammoth effort from our entire team, that baby would absolutely have been taken.

In the morning, Sage is standing up and drinking from her Mumma. We are all sore and tired but so happy. Watching them together and knowing they are safe makes it all worth it.