You are not alone in wondering!.  Like humans, cows must become pregnant and give birth for milk production to occur. On dairy farms, this is almost exclusively done through artificial insemination. After nine months, a cow gives birth, only to be separated from her baby within hours so she can immediately begin producing milk for human consumption. When a mother cow is separated from her baby, the trauma is almost too much for her and her baby to bear, causing extreme mental stress for the mother and long-term negative impacts on the calf’s development. They can often be heard calling out for one another for hours or days after separation. Heart-wrenching videos show mother cows chasing after the vehicles that are taking their babies away. What’s even worse is that a mother cow will relive this nightmare again and again, for about five years, or until their bodies protest. Once they are no longer producing milk at an “acceptable” rate, they are slaughtered for meat. https://thehumaneleague.org/article/dairy-industry-myths Chickens who are bred for egg production are laying an unnaturally large quantity of eggs, depleting their bodies of nutrients.  Like dairy cows, their bodies also give out way too young, when they are also slaughtered for human consumption. Additionally, male chicks can’t produce eggs so they are often killed at just days old.  By continuing to eat eggs, you are supporting this inhumane practice.