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Abstract
The objective was to compare the performance of farms that have more than one self-identified manager to the performance of similar farms with only one self-identified manager. The question to be answered is whether more managers enhance the performance of the farm. The technique used is a matching technique to compare similar farms which only vary in whether they have only one or more than one manager. The data set used was the New York Dairy Farm Business Summary data from the years 1998 through 2011. The partnerships as a group did not display higher or lower returns to labor and management income per operator compared to the sole proprietorships. A comparison of parent-child partnerships to non-parent-child partnerships resulted in the non-parent-child partnerships showing $36,442 more labor and management income per manager. The conclusion is that two or more heads for management are better than one head for management, as long as the two heads does not include a parent and child. The results suggest that further data collection and studies that explores the management styles and practices of the non-family partnerships as compared to the family partnerships is warranted.