# Treated wood in your goat shelter?



## Blue Ridge (Jul 2, 2013)

Can you use treated wood in your goat shelter? 

Or is it harmful to their health, and potentially ours through dairy and meat products?


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

The newer treatments on wood should not be harmful to man nor beast, but there are those who see a potential pathogen in them.

After researching, we chose to go ahead and use treated wood for raised beds, and had/have no concerns.


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## o&itw (Dec 19, 2008)

Pony said:


> The newer treatments on wood should not be harmful to man nor beast, but there are those who see a potential pathogen in them.
> 
> After researching, we chose to go ahead and use treated wood for raised beds, and had/have no concerns.


I am curious, ms P. I am not sure that it wouldn't be unsavory to goats, but the common preservatives at the present time are pentachlorophenol on posts, and a copper/arsenic preservative on "treated" or CCA lumber. (CCA stands for chromated copper arsenate) I don't have a problem with CCA, normally, but the chemicals are water soluble, and while leaching out of a deck onto the ground would not be normally a hazard in the small amounts, I am not sure that I would want it seeping into a soil in which I grew food.

I have been sort of out of the loop lately, what are these new treatments of which you are speaking.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

I don't have the links anymore on which we based our decision, but we did use the CCA. 

Now, we have cinder blocks that, truth be told, are probably worse in some ways due to chemical leachate. I just never considered it a significant risk. 

I could be totally loony, but there ya go.


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## parrotman (Jan 27, 2008)

When I had the new pasture shelter built, I asked myself the same question about using treated lumber.
I decided to use treated support posts that went into the ground as well as floor joists (not the floor itself) and the rest is built from untreated pine and rough-cut hemlock. The roof is steel.
My shelter is elevated above ground level due to wet soil from natural springs.


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## o&itw (Dec 19, 2008)

This brings up a question for everybody. I would think goats would not be inclined to gnaw on treated lumber. Would those of you that have used treated lumber (CCA, penta, and creosote) comment on whether you have had any problems with goats chewing on it?

When I was young, all of our wooden posts and the coral lumber was treated with creosote. The cattle never bothered it, put personally, I was allergic to the stuff and if I got it on me it gave me a burn like a bad sunburn, and on hot days, it would cause my eyes to burn being with in 10 feet of the stuff. It was a much better preservative than both CCA and penta (The cattle coral that was built with it over 40 years ago is still standing and in use)

I would find it unlikely that goats would chew on either penta or creosote, but CCA might be a different story, so any experience with having animals chew on it would be nice to know.


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## Nancy_in_GA (Oct 20, 2004)

Our goats chew on almost everything *except* the treated lumber in the barn. Untreated plywood gets demolished quickly. I notice they do not chew untreated 2x4's. Maybe the size of the lumber is important too.


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## Phil V. (May 31, 2013)

What about getting pressure treated lumber and using linseed oil or something to that effect. Also one guy that I knew years ago used white wash on his goat building to keep the wood protected.


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## Nancy_in_GA (Oct 20, 2004)

Oh, I have a story about whitewash. Decided to paint some of the inside of the barn with whitewash to lighten up the dark corners. The goats systematically went around and chewed every bit of whitewash off that they could reach, and took a layer of the barn siding (4x8 panels from box store) off with it. I was going to try it on the trees. Would have been a bad idea. Maybe my goats are weird. They do get loose minerals, btw.


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## Bret4207 (May 31, 2008)

The modern CCA treated is good enough to used around kids that the gov't thinks are stupid enough to chew on wood or eat paint. I've rarely seen my goats chew any wood, much less treated.


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