Most newborn calves never receive enough antibody protection from colostrum alone. Only 35.5% of calves meet “excellent” serum IgG levels, which leaves a wide immunity gap during the first critical weeks of life.

EggTek® is added directly to your milk replacer to help fill that gap with targeted antibodies against the pathogens that most commonly cause scours and early-life disease in calves.

What This Means For Your Calves

In controlled in-vitro and on-farm studies, EggTek-C has been shown to:

  • Increase specific antibody titers in milk replacers against nine common scour-causing pathogens
  • Help reduce mortality in Holstein bull calves in a dose-dependent manner, with the largest gains in calves that had failed transfer of passive immunity
  • Reduce days with scours and the severity of scouring in heifer calves
  • Reduce the number of antibiotic and electrolyte treatments needed per calf

For a dairy producer, that translates into: More Money Less Labor Better Odds

More Money

in your pocket from reduction in medicinal costs

Less Labor

tied up mixing treatments and monitoring sick calves

Better Odds

that replacement heifers reach their genetic potential

Why Calf Immunity Is So Hard To Get Right

In the first 48 hours after birth, calves rely entirely on antibodies from colostrum to protect them. If colostrum quality, timing, or volume is off, those calves enter the “immunity gap,” a vulnerable window before their own immune system matures and before immunity from vaccines takes hold.

Even when colostrum is managed well, routine feeding moves quickly to milk nutritional sources. Many producers assume that the IgG in milk replacers is enough, but:

  • Different milk replacers contain very different levels of IgG, and
  • Those IgG antibodies do not all recognize the same calf pathogens

In a five-milk-replacer comparison, Arkion Life Sciences found wide variation both in total IgG and in how well those antibodies bound to key enteric pathogens such as rotavirus, coronavirus, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, Salmonella, and Clostridium perfringens.

The result: even carefully chosen early calf nutrition products may not deliver consistent, targeted immune support through the immunity gap.

What is EggTek?

EggTek® is an egg-based supplement added to calf nutrition products to provide a blanket of specific antibodies in the gut. It is the commercial application of the EgCel® IgY technology platform developed by Arkion Life Sciences.

Each batch begins with specially vaccinated hens. Their eggs contain IgY antibodies that have been raised against some of the most important calf pathogens, including:

  • E. coli K99, K88, 987P, F41
  • Rotavirus G6, G8, G10
  • Coronavirus
  • Cryptosporidium parvum
  • Clostridium perfringens Types A, C, and D
  • Salmonella Typhimurium, Newport, Dublin, Heidelberg
  • Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus Types 1 and 2

How EggTek® Works In Your Calf Milk Replacer

  1. Targeted antibody production
    Hens are vaccinated with a multivalent cocktail representing major calf scour pathogens. Their eggs develop high titers of specific IgY antibodies in the yolk.
  2. Egg processing and IgY concentration
    Eggs are collected, pasteurized, and spray dried into a food-grade powder using Arkion’s proprietary EgCel® production process, which preserves high levels of specific IgY.
  3. Inclusion in milk replacer
    Nutrition manufacturers blend EggTek-C into calf milk replacers at defined grams per day so each feeding delivers a consistent amount of specific IgY.
  4. Action in the gut
    When the calf drinks the replacer, IgY antibodies coat the intestinal lining. IgY does not cross the gut wall, it stays local. When it encounters a pathogen it recognizes, IgY binds to it like a lock and key, helping prevent attachment and reducing the pathogen load. The bound complexes are then excreted in the manure.

This mechanism is complementary to good colostrum management, nutrition, and veterinary care. It does not replace them.

Backed By The Five Milk Replacer Study

The “five milk replacer” comparison that EggTek-C is built on tested five commercial milk-component-only calf milk replacers. Researchers measured:

  • The total IgG in each replacer
  • How specifically those antibodies bound to nine key calf enteric pathogens

Key findings:

  • Not all calf milk replacers are created equal. IgG levels ranged widely, from about 2.0 mg/g to over 12 mg/g.
  • IgG amount is not the whole story. Two replacers with similar total IgG had very different specificity profiles, meaning one actually delivered far fewer functional antibodies against calf pathogens.
  • Adding EggTek-C improved titers in every replacer. Simulating the addition of just 2 g of EggTek-C per 10 oz feeding increased antibody titers against the test pathogens, with the largest improvements, over 1,000%, in the weakest products.

When you see the EggTek® Inside badge, it signals that your replacer has been deliberately fortified with specific egg-derived IgY to provide a more consistent, targeted layer of gut-level passive immunity.