Pastoralists exhausted from shooting hundreds of feral camels a day would like to see the otherwise wasted meat commercialised.

Key points: Graziers are culling hundreds of feral camels a day in Central Australia

Graziers are culling hundreds of feral camels a day in Central Australia Drought has forced the camels onto pastoral land, where they compete with livestock for water

Drought has forced the camels onto pastoral land, where they compete with livestock for water Pastoralists would like to see camel products commercialised, but infrastructure is a problem

Drought is driving camels out of the desert and onto farms in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, where they're competing with cattle for precious water.

The culls are leaving thousands of carcasses to rot, a waste of meat some say could be avoided.

But the road to market is not easy, and as controversial culls continue, both landholders and camels are wearied by the worsening drought.

Warning: this story contains graphic images.

Camel numbers rising dramatically

Increasingly hot and dry conditions can prompt brutal survival instincts in an animal famed for its strength and intimidating size.

The camels drink vast quantities of water meant for livestock — as much as 200 litres in a few minutes — and destroy infrastructure in the search for more.

One landholder said he had seen the feral animals resort to killing cattle to drink from carcasses.

Western Australia pastoralist and local councillor Jim Quadrio said his property has been "hammered" over the past year by desperate camels.

Camels, horses, cattle, wild dogs, kangaroos and emus are all perishing in the record dry conditions. Water holes on Prenti Downs are surrounded by carcasses. ( ABC Landline: Kristy O'Brien )

"Camel numbers double in every 10 years, so if you're looking at the numbers that are around at the moment, estimated from 300,000 to 600,000, we've got to be covering at least 30,000 to 60,000 a year just to maintain the levels we're at now," he said.

"I would definitely love to see commercialisation, but in the absence of a market, that subscale that can actually deal with the numbers we're talking about, the immediate option is an aerial culling program."

Culling programs have been run sporadically over the years but they are expensive and securing permission on predominately Indigenous lands can be difficult — not to mention getting qualified shooters and hiring helicopters.

Jack Carmody has seen numbers escalate rapidly on his family's property, Prenti Downs Station, in central Western Australia.

"It was an overnight change where one day I was thinking I'll [shoot] close to 100 and ended up shooting 180 of them and proceeded to go up and up until I peaked out at 435 in a day," he said.

Camels have broken down a fence and smashed infrastructure to get to water. ( ABC Landline: Kristy O'Brien )

'You'll never shoot the problem away'

Used to the grim task of shooting hundreds of camels in 49-degree-Celsius heat, Mr Carmody is in favour of a commercial camel market, which would ease the burden.

"Some of the strengths that we have or opportunities we have for this market is Indigenous engagement and community engagement, so we can get some action in the remote areas of Western Australia and Australia as a whole," he said.

"Being able to add a little bit of purpose and value to some of these animals which are just running around … it's a tough market to get into. But a market that is starting to appear is China, in particular with the African swine fever which is decimating the pork industry."

Graziers are culling hundreds of camels a day, leaving thousands of carcasses to rot. ( ABC Landline: Kristy O'Brien )

Another supporter is Paddy McHugh, an ex-camel catcher who has worked in the industry for more than 40 years. He now travels regularly to the Middle East as a camel broker.

"We have a problem with camels in Australia, I'm not denying that, but shooting it will never work," he said.

"You'll never shoot the problem away.

"The only way to fix the problem is to commercialise the industry and by doing that, you'll go a long way to solving the problem and then you also have an income."

Over the past five years, Mr McHugh has received more than 1,000 enquiries from more than 50 countries looking for camel products.

"Meat's 90 per cent of enquiries, but then you go into live export, then you go into wool, you go into milk, the hump fat … so there's numerous aspects of the camel and numerous countries that want camel meat," he said.

Camels have drained a water supply overnight at Carnegie Station. Manager Brendan Carew is forced to make temporary repairs to stop cattle from dying of thirst. ( ABC Landline: Kristy O'Brien )

A tough road to market

But commercialisation has not worked so far and the reasons are multifaceted: extreme remoteness, transport costs, quality and quantity of meat per beast, and consistency in supply.

Glen Edwards is the director of pest animals for the Northern Territory Department of Environment and Natural Resources and has worked in managing feral populations for the last 10 years.

"A lot of the camels occur in very remote areas where there is no infrastructure, which is needed for them to be mustered and put on trucks and sent to abattoirs, so that's a major constraint," he said.

"Camels can only be single decked on trucks, so the cost of transport is double that of cattle."

Mr Edwards said even if a market was secured abroad or domestically, harvesting camels from the wild would need to be complemented by farming to ensure consistency of supply and quality.

"You really need to be servicing that market when it needs product and it's difficult to do that if you are mustering an animal from the wild in remote places," he said.

Jack Carmody has a standoff with a lone feral camel. ( ABC Landline: Kristy O'Brien )

Watch this story on ABC TV's Landline this Sunday at 12:30pm or on iview.