Parable Farming and the Flow of Milk

I never intended to become a dairy farmer, much preferring to tend to my sheep. That is why I chose such a path - a beautiful confluence of my interests and skills. Milk production at that time was a little sideline, a small necessity within the grander scheme.

How the world has changed since those halcyon days. Milk production has now become a proxy measure of my success as a shepherd. The more successful I am going to be judged as a shepherd, the more time I have to spend in the production of milk - and when my attention is thus diverted, so more of my sheep wander off or are attacked by wolves.

The milk has to be of a high quality and transported to the milk processing plant in a timely fashion. I will be punished if I fail to meet these objectives. I will also be punished if I lose too many sheep.

There are many people involved in processing the milk, but no-one is really sure what happens to the finished product. I think it is given to the cows. There is an inherent flaw in the system that is due to the exponential growth in the demand for milk. In order to produce milk to a standard that is safe to consume, additional milk is needed to process the milk that has already been collected. The system has been built with all the stability of a three-legged milking stool. But what does a shepherd know?