Livestock diseases can result in reduced farm productivity. The bacterial diseases tuberculosis (TB) and brucellosis may share some transmission characteristics which, if managed in common, would result in more cost-effective management. Here, we identify risk factors shared between these diseases using a case-control approach and information theoretic modelling. One-hundred cattle farmers in Atlantic Spain were interviewed about farm characteristics and management practices. The risk factor shared between both diseases was intra- and inter-herd contact between cattle. Disease-specific risk factors were the presence of wildlife for TB, and cattle movement between farms for brucellosis. An integrated approach to disease management needs to consider cattle movement and farm biosecurity, reinforced by an education campaign to increase farmer awareness. This would be likely to bring benefits in reducing both diseases and improve the efficiency of any interventions. ; Funding was granted by Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander. This is a contribution to Plan Nacional grant AGL2011-30041, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and INIA grant RTA2011-00010-00-00, FEDER co-funded, Spain. This work was supported by a fellowship for prospective researchers from the Swiss National Science Foundation (N.M., grant number PBBEP3_139398), a UK Research Councils NERC/ESRC interdisciplinary studentship (C.E.C.) and a “Contrato de Investigación para Doctores” from the Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agraria y Agroalimentaria (A.B.) ; Peer Reviewed