 Their thirteen-month gestation period must conclude in a live birth followed by suckling, else the female camel will stop producing milk.Unlike a dairy cow which is parted from her calf when it is born and then gives milk for six to nine months, a camel can share her milk with the farmer and her calf for 12–18 months.Both milk yields and the nutritional composition of camel milk are affected by many factors, including "forage quantity and quality, watering frequency, climate, breeding age, parity, milking frequency, calf nursing, milking method (hand or machine milking), health, and reproductive status".