Patent ID: 7713527

Claim:
A method of increasing growth performance in a piglet comprising: immunizing a population of hens with K88 bacterial antigen; collecting eggs from the population of hens, said eggs containing antibodies raised against said K88 bacterial antigen; recovering antibody-containing material from said eggs; drying said antibody-containing material to a powder, thereby producing dried egg powder; confirming that the titer of the K88 antibodies is at least 1/256,000 compared to a control titer from eggs from a non-immunized hen of 1/1600; supplementing feed of a piglet with 0.1-1.0% (w/w) of the dried egg powder; and feeding said feed to said piglet ad libitum, wherein said piglet has increased growth compared to a control piglet of similar age and condition, fed a similar feed ration ad libitum and regimen but said similar feed ration being without supplementation with said antibody-containing egg powder.