In grazing systems livestock contact with faeces and the faecal-oral route is a common mode of parasite transmission (Hutchings et al. 2003). Quantifying the faecal-oral route of transmission is thus central to predicting the force of infection of numerous diseases experienced by grazing livestock. Here our overall aim is to quantify the rate of faeces ingestion and thus disease risk by grazing herbivores using the example of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and the risk of paratuberculosis (Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis) they pose to ruminants. The study had the secondary aims of determining the effects of level of contamination and sward height on the rate of faeces ingestion.