Cob: Goat Shelter

[Amanda Peck]

The reasons why cob would not be good for a volunteer built and run 
county-wide dog shelter include:

a) dogs dig, chew and so on.  Don't know how easy goats are on their home.

b) disinfecting, cleaning--both animal quarters and a place for surgery, 
treatment, and so on.  Not quite as important for either herbivores or ones 
own animals.

c) the need to have a building go up quickly with not all that dedicated to 
building volunteer labor (wanting a new shelter, yes, wanting to spend weeks 
putting up space for 25-100 dogs and cats, no).  This might not apply to cob 
as much as to some of the stone methods, would again not necessarily apply 
to an individual with only a couple of goats.

The people who tell me that a cob office would be a welcome respite from 
barking dogs are right.

For a goat shed, do you need a fairly soft surface, the way you do for 
horses?  Would the urbanite be best used for a rubble trench foundation?

Speaking of goat sheds, did you see this?  (has it been posted here at least 
eighty-five times?)

http://www.touchtheearthranch.com/goatshed.htm
....................
Rachel Merrill writes:

I've been reading the discussion of building an animal shelter with 
interest, as I have a friend who wants to buy a couple of goats, and needs 
to build some sort of shelter for them.  Both for economic reasons, and a 
desire to be kind to the environment, she's interested in natural building.  
Her neighbor has a huge mountain of urbanite in front of his house from 
tearing out his driveway, so the suggestion of a 'tiled' floor mortared with 
cement is a possibility.

My questions are:
Do the things written earlier about cob not being suitable for a large 
animal shelter apply to a smaller shelter with just a couple of animals?

Does anyone who has built a small shelter like this have any suggestions, 
insights?

We live in Las Vegas, where it gets extremely hot in the summer.  Can cob 
protect adequately from these extreme hot temperatures (at least adequately 
enough for goats to be comfortable?)
TIA,
Rachel
"THERE IS SOME OF THE SAME FITNESS IN
A MAN'S BUILDING HIS OWN HOUSE THAT
THERE IS IN A BIRD'S BUILDING ITS OWN NEST.

WHO KNOWS BUT IF MEN CONSTRUCTED
THEIR DWELLINGS WITH THEIR OWN HANDS,
AND PROVIDED FOOD FOR THEMSELVES AND
FAMILIES SIMPLY AND HONESTLY ENOUGH,
THE POETIC FACULTY WOULD BE UNIVERSALLY
DEVELOPED, AS BIRDS UNIVERSALLY SING
WHEN THEY ARE SO ENGAGED?"
HENRY DAVID THOREAU

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