Cows raised for food are increasingly kept in intensive systems known as feedlots, designed to grow the animals to maximum weight in the least amount of time. Cows raised for beef are routinely branded with hot irons, castrated with no pain relief, and suffer respiratory and foot infections due to the constant presence of ammonia and manure in feedlot pens. And while cows represent a small percentage of animals used for food, the resources required to feed and graze them have devastating environmental consequences.