Cob: Goat Shelter

[D.J. Henman]

Amanda,

Amanda Peck wrote:

>
> 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. 

Dogs chess on their cob dog houses.   Really?
I've seen cob horse sheds and no problems.   Does anybody out there have 
a cob dog house?

> 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. 

Cob is not inherently dirty?  (sounds kind of funny).    A lot depends 
on what disinfectants you use and how you apply them.    About surgery, 
that is a totally different thing that a housing area.

> 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. 

Perhaps some hybrid with cob and straw bale then.

> 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? 

You mean would it be adequate.   Rocks and other masonry materials could 
also be used to the same effect.

Some Places I've seen just used a stabilized rammed earth foundation.   
But, I'm not sure that I'd recommend it, having no experience with it 
myself.

Darel