An Analytical Study of Production Cost for Camel Herds in Riyadh Area, Saudi Arabia

This is a report of biological and economic characteristics of 43 traditional camel herds near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The camel ranchers were personal1y surveyed during the summer of 200 I by the senior author. The sample contained 21 medium size herds averaging 38 head and 22 large herds averaging 92 head. The age-sex distribution of animals was similar across the two herd sizes. Owners of medium herds were more likely to have ranches closer to Riyadh that were part time "hobby" operations. Large herds suffered fewer death losses, possibly due to using more labor. Medium herds' total costs were 3279 SR/animal/year and large herds' total costs were 2318 SR /animal/year. (At the fixed rate 1.0 Saudi Riyal (SR) = 0.2667 u.S. Dollar). Medium herds' fixed costs were 458 riyal/head/year and large herds fixed costs were 242 SR /head/yr. Variable costs for large herds were 2077 SR /animal/year, or 74% of the medium herds' variable cost of 3821 SR /anima1lyear. The large herds used less machinery and feed per animal than the medium herds, but the large herds employed more labor per camel. Feed for medium herds represented 66% of their total costs, a sum of $577/animal/year. In contrast, feed cost for large herds was 79% of their total costs, a sum of $490/animal/year. Informal information collected during the survey indicated that ranchers With large herds tended to be more profit oriented. Ranchers With large herds were more likely to live closer to their herds and to maintain cooperative arrangements with other ranchers, for example buying feed col1ectively or sharing machinery with other ranchers. On the other hand, ranchers with medium herds appeared more likely to keep camels as a traditional activity or hobby and were less profit oriented. More research would be necessary to formally test these tentative explanations of cost differences by herd size