Wrangling wild camels in country Western Australia is a long way from a small town in Germany for one dairy farmer with a difference.
Dr Max Bergmann lives in Morangup, near Toodyay, with his wife and young family taming wild camels for his camel dairy.
With just 2-3 per cent vision, the legally blind farmer, Paralympian, and researcher uses innovation and technology to drive his business.
After studying a doctorate in plant physiology, Dr Bergmann moved into a life on the land.
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)"I've always done what I love … including the camels now," he said.
"I just really like farming and I love driving the tractor.
Dr Bergmann was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa when he was 8 years old and his sight has been degenerating since.
"I've got a blind spot in the centre of my eye and I've got only peripheral vision left," he said.
Developing trust
Dr Bergmann sources wild camels from the outback in central Australia and trains them to be milked in his mobile dairy.
Most of the milk is used in a range of skincare products, freeze dried powder, and some for drinking.
Dr Bergmann said he often gets asked how he works with camels, saying it requires planning, structure, and trust.
"I just trust them. I think I've got that internal trust and I'm not afraid. And I think they sense that I might not be able to see properly.
"But because my posture, my whole movement around them is quite reassuring, I guess, and I have never had a real issue."
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)Dr Bergmann said he uses what technology is available, as well as memorising movements around the mobile milking system.
"Exactly three steps to the left, one step forward, and then you touch this rope. You do this. It's just getting used to it," he said.
"Obviously what I don't like is if things are not in the right place. Then all of a sudden I look like a blind person."
He has also set up systems to help him navigate around the property.
"We put large, white corflute signs on all our fences, and I put them strategically," he said.
He has had a GPS auto-steering control system installed into the tractor to navigate the farm.
"When you're on the bigger machines and we do the cropping, you have GPS technology that you could put literally put a monkey there these days," he said.
"I always say it's a good time to be blind because of technology.
"I've done my PhD on a computer that has a screen reader. The technology is just fantastic."
Innovative thinking
Sometimes though, the simple ideas are the best.
Dr Bergmann said designing Australia's first mobile camel dairy required some innovative thinking.
"I'm blind, legally blind, it's quite hard for me to come up with plans and drawings. So when we designed that system I actually had to imagine it," he said.
"I've got this vision, like, I'm always 'I'm a blind guy, but I've got a vision'.
"So I had to come up with the whole system, how it's working, and the way I've done it was by actually playing with my kids.
Dr Bergmann said the mobile milking platform came about through a desire to be more sustainable.
"We created a decentralised system, so rather than taking the cows to the dairy we are now trying to take the dairy to the cows," he said.
"It is this innovation that allows the camels to stay in the pasture 100 per cent of the time.
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)Dr Bergmann has a special bond with his camels, and said they have unfairly earned a reputation for being bad-tempered spitters.
"I always call them the gentle giants because they're so warm-hearted," he said.
"They're not 'flight' animals, so they're quite different to horses or cows.
"The whole psychology is more like a dog. So it's like imagining if you like dogs and you have hundreds of them.
While the day-to-day running of a camel farm is hectic, Dr Bergmann finds his motivation and determination to continue every day when out in the paddocks.
"If your favourite camel comes up and rests their head on your shoulder, you just close your eyes for a moment, it's just that magic that they're so calm," he said.
"That just transfers into you. That gives me the feeling you're doing the right thing. Just keep doing what you're doing."
Chris Kerr is an ABC Regional Storyteller Scholarship winner, a partnership initiative with International Day of People with Disability.
Source: ABC