Modern dairy farms are complex systems that need sophisticated management to meet production, profitability, and environmental stewardship goals. These sustainability goals are often conflicting, and producers, farm advisors, and policy-makers need systems-level information on options to balance them.

Computer models like RuFaS are valuable for systems information because they can evaluate many farm types and management practices and do so cheaper and faster than physical experimentation alone. Whole-farm systems models are especially valuable because they evaluate connections between system components that physical research cannot practically investigate.