The Immunity Gap Bridged

The Immunity Gap Bridged

The Immunity Gap Bridged

Arkion Life Sciences introduces New Test to Measure the Antibodies in Early Calf Nutrition Products

Arkion Life Sciences will introduce the dairy industry’s first analytic test that reveals the presence and relative amounts of antibodies in early calf nutrition products, such as colostrum, colostrum replacer, milk, and milk replacer.

The IgScan™ Antibody Specificity Testing service, which measures not only the amount of IgG, but also the antibody specificity of that IgG against enteric diseases, will launch in 2026, and dairy experts are already calling it a “game changer” for calf health.

The company will first offer IgScan to colostrum and milk replacer manufacturers, followed by veterinary, nutritionist, and on-farm applications.

The IgScan testing service was developed to address a real, but often overlooked, industry problem: the variability of antibody specificity in early calf nutrition products.

“High IgG doesn’t always equate to high disease protection,” says Michelle Tollefson, Director of Commercialization, EgCel® IgY Technology business unit, Arkion Life Sciences, LLC. “For instance, Arkion’s research has shown that two milk replacers with similar total IgG levels can have vastly different levels of specific antibodies against the disease-causing pathogens that affect pre-weaned dairy calves. IgScan turns that variability into actionable data and provides a recommendation as to how to improve antibody levels.”

The service, a partnership between EgCel and Bio-Technical Resources, also a Division of Arkion Life Sciences, will help manufacturers reformulate or develop new products for better disease protection—and give veterinarians and nutritionists insight into possible disease prevention, she added.

Scours remains the #1 cause of pre-weaning calf death in the United States, and now producers can verify whether the nutrition products given to calves actually contains antibodies against the pathogens that cause scours.

The service measures total IgG plus antibody specificity to seven antigens of key calfhood pathogens. Each IgScan sample report includes:

  • Total IgG concentration (the current standard measure of overall immunity)
  • Specific antibody titers against the most important calf-scours pathogens:
    • Bovine rotavirus
    • Bovine coronavirus
    • Cryptosporidium parvum
    • Escherichia coli (K99)
    • Salmonella Typhimurium
    • Salmonella Dublin

In addition to measuring IgG, IgScan reports detail IgG specificity, compares it to similar calf nutrition products, and recommends ways—such as adding EggTek® IgY, a proprietary, egg-based technology—to optimize antibody protection and improve calf health outcomes.

High values in the report indicate antibodies against that pathogen are present, while low values indicate the antibodies are not present or are present at very low levels, explained Dr. Shawn Jones, Director of Innovation and Manufacturing at Arkion Life Sciences. “Low antibody values indicate the calf is more susceptible to that pathogen, and a supplement product to support immunity could be needed. This vulnerability can lead to increasing calf illness, death, veterinary costs, and lost future production.

 

“For the first time, the dairy industry will be able to see what hasn’t been visible before,” he added.

With IgScan, dairy producers will finally be able to:

  • Choose early calf nutrition strategies based on data, not guesswork
  • Understand how pasteurization, storage, and pooling may impact antibody levels
  • Compare different early calf nutrition products for immune support
  • Have more productive conversations with veterinarians and nutritionists
  • Support healthier calves, stronger starts, and improved profitability

“The specificity of IgG matters because antibodies act like lock and keys,” said Jones. “Antibodies will only bind to the pathogens that they recognize. If they don’t recognize the pathogen they won’t bind to it. Without this knowledge, the calves may be vulnerable to a disease that you have on your farm.”

Once the gaps in calf immunity have been identified by IgScan, producers can take steps to keep calves healthy by including an IgY supplement in the nutrition product.

By delivering a high dose of pre-formed antibodies directly to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract with IgY supplementation, the potential pathogen load can be significantly reduced, which in turn decreases the chances of disease, he said.

Additionally, IgY can be more potent than IgG, which means fewer antibodies are needed to achieve the same results. In a 1997[1], a bovine coronavirus-challenge study found four times the amount of a colostrum-derived IgG was needed to achieve equivalent mortality results as with an egg powder-derived IgY. The study, “Passive protection of neonatal calves against bovine coronavirus-induced diarrhea by administration of egg yolk or colostrum antibody powder,” was published in Veterinary Microbiology.

When given within the first 24 hours of the calf’s life, antibodies in colostrum or colostrum replacers give the calf systemic protection, Jones said. These antibodies are slowly secreted back into the GI tract to provide the calf several weeks of protection.

However, if producers miss that critical 24-hour window, antibodies stay in the GI tract rather than absorb for systemic protection. This means repeated feeding of antibody, either IgG or IgY, is necessary for a sustained, local immune protection.

“IgScan submissions will come from veterinarians, nutritionists, and calf nutrition manufacturers, but producers are the ones who will benefit most,” Jones said. “Once they know the actual antibody specificity of their calf nutrition products, they will be able to take steps to ensure calves get the right antibodies from birth to weaning.”

Sidebar: Why IgG is only part of the solution to calf health

For decades, calf health has depended upon a simple idea: immunity matters.

Whether the antibodies that provide that immunity come from high-quality maternal colostrum or today’s sophisticated colostrum replacers and milk replacers, producers know that managing calf health starts within minutes of birth.

Producers, veterinarians, nutritionists and even calf nutrition manufacturers have all relied on the assumption that early calf nutrition such as colostrum have plenty of antibodies, including the right ones.

However, no one has been able to measure the antibody specificity actually present in the nutrition calves consume.

Until now

With the introduction the IgScan Antibody Specificity Test by Arkion Life Sciences, veterinarians and nutritionists can learn if the colostrum or milk replacer formula they are using provides the antibodies calves need to help prevent or lessen the effect of calf-scours or other disease-causing pathogens.

IgScan is the first commercial assay that reports antibody levels for the pathogens that can cause calf scours in colostrum or milk replacer and will give manufacturers a tool to optimize the immune quality of their products, while veterinarians and nutritionists can help producers with the ability to validate what they feed—before a health outbreak forces them to investigate.

“Early nutrition products for calves formulas are generally to provide dairy calves with the nutrients needed for growth, but not necessarily with the IgG needed to assist immunity,” said Roger L. Saltman, DVM, MBA, of RLS Management Solutions.

“In fact, these replacers often vary greatly in the amount of IgG from lot to lot by the same manufacturer, which means formulations are not always consistent. The levels of whey may vary greatly from lot to lot, which in turn can cause variability in the amount of IgG.

“In short, what producers feed may not be what calves need,” he said.

Adding an IgY supplement may be integral to a healthier – and thus more valuable – calf, he said. In a 2021 study[2] into the effect of immunized egg proteins on the performance of neonatal diarrhea in calves, calves that received IgY egg powder supplements to support immunity were heavier than the control group. According to the study, in which the publication was in the Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition, body weight increased (P<.05) on days 42 and 56 in calves fed IgY for an average of 10 pounds per calf.

In an internal Arkion study presented at the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, calves supplemented with EggTek-C and had less illness and death than those not receiving the supplement.[3]

About Arkion Life Sciences

Arkion Life Sciences, based on New Castle, DE, is a technology-based company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets environmentally friendly products and technologies. EgCel,® IgY Technology is an egg-based, proprietary technology that vaccinates chickens with antigens derived from the most significant pathogens affecting animals. For dairy herds, EggTek-C’s formula is with dairy herds in mind. The resulting IgY product provides stable antibody protection that can reduce the use of antibiotics in helping to maintain calf health.

 

EggTek-S formula is for swine, while ActiveEgg is for companion animals.

  1. Ikemori, Y, et. al. 1997. “Passive protection of neonatal calves against bovine coronavirus-induced diarrhea by administration of egg yolk or colostrum antibody powder.” Vet Microbiol 58:105-111. ↑
  2. van Kuijk et al, Effect of immunized egg proteins on the performance and neonatal diarrhoea incidence in newborn calves, J Anim Physiol Anim Nutr. 2021; 001-8 ↑
  3. Saltman, R.L., Jones, S.W., Tollefson, M., Measuring pathogen specificity of IgG in milk replacers and the potential for supplementing with pathogen-specific IgY, AABP Proceedings, Vol. 58, No. 2, Sept. 2025 ↑