Holy C.A.F.O!

Every day I pass by a C.A.F.O (pronounced KAY-phou).

What is a C.A.F.O? C.A.F.O stands for Contained Animal Feed Operation.

Here's my explanation - a C.A.F.O is a meat or dairy production site. However, the meat and dairy produced at C.A.F.Os is the opposite of meat or dairy any person in their right mind would want to eat if they knew where and from what conditions said meat or dairy came.

In a C.A.F.O animals are kept inside and are penned or tied or caged side by side. They stand in their poop until it is hosed out, and sometimes it's not. The animals do not walk. Sit. Lay down. Roll over. Sometimes they don't even see outside. In this particular C.A.F.O a few lucky cows get to look out at the road. And since they don't go outside, they have to do their bathroom business inside. Where they stand. Which then necessitates a Shit Sucker Upper truck to come suck out all the shit about once a week or once every other week. I know because I often get stuck behind the Shit Sucker truck leaving the farm. Being stuck behind a Shit Sucker Truck is not the ideal place to be, let me tell you.

I ride by on my bike sometimes. I watch the few cows at the open roadside area watch me as I pass. They look young, their legs splayed in that I'm-still-getting-used-to-these-four-things kind of way. Their heads turn to follow me as I glide past. I hope they take turns at the windows.