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In dairy farming, calves are separated from their mothers soon after birth and have no further contact with adult cows until their first calving. An alternative practice aiming at better growth and health of the calves has recently developed in organic farming and involves rearing dairy calves with nurse cows from the herd leading to a later weaning between 4 and 10 months. Three distinct phases can be identified: a short phase of a few days with the mother and then a phase of adoption by a nurse at around 8 days of age, between which there is sometimes a phase of artificial feeding. The consequences of this innovative system on one of the main causes of diarrhoea in newborn calves, cryptosporidiosis, were studied in twenty herds in western France. Calves reared in this new system had a lower level of cryptosporidiosis infection and a lower frequency of diarrhoea than in the conventional system. This result is explained by a lower concentration of calves in the rearing premises, linked to earlier grazing whenever possible. Conversely, the artificial feeding phase was found to be one of the main risk factors for cryptosporidia excretion.

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