Wanna see some happy cows? Then you’re in for a real treat! “Koeiendans” is a Dutch terms means “cow dance.” Why are these cows so happy? They’ve been inside their nice warm stalls in the Netherlands for five months, and now they get to go outside to frolic through the fresh new grass in the pasture. You’d be dancing, too!

While we’re on the subject of happy cows, did you know … factory farming or concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)* are relatively new? I probably didn’t eat much factory-farmed livestock growing up because, back then, most livestock was set out to pasture as a matter of course:

Livestock production has become increasingly dominated by CAFOs in the United States and other parts of the world. Most of the poultry consumed by humans was raised in CAFOs starting in the 1950s, and most cattle and pork originated in CAFOs by the 1970s and 80s. CAFOs now dominate livestock and poultry production in U.S. and the scope of their market share is steadily increasing. In 1966, it took one million farms to house 57 million pigs; by the year 2001, it only took 80,000 farms to house the same number of pigs.

* Wikipedia defines a CAFO as “a production process that concentrates large numbers of animals in relatively small and confined places, and that substitutes structures and equipment (for feeding, temperature controls, and manure management) for land and labor.”

Thanks to Miss Cellania and Bill.