The information below has been supplied by dairy marketers and other industry organizations. It has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hoard’s Dairyman. 
In December 2018, the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics granted approval for DUAL-FORCETM FIRST DEFENSE® which offers antibody driven immediate immunity against both bacterial and viral scours in newborn beef and dairy calves. DUAL-FORCE offers similar protection as the FIRST DEFENSE blue capsule but in an oral syringe delivery option. The single-dose gel tube can be easily administered without a balling gun. In addition, the DUAL-FORCE gel contains a non-digestible blue dye which serves as a marker, turning the calf’s first stool after administration a neon blue-green to help detect and prevent protocol drift.
“Antibody based products are the fastest growing sector in human health,” commented Bobbi Jo Brockmann, Vice President of Sales & Marketing. “Usually livestock pharmaceutical advancements trail those of the human health market by quite a bit, but with DUAL-FORCE producers can benefit from this cutting-edge technology today,” added Ms. Brockmann.
DUAL-FORCE, and the entire FIRST DEFENSE product line, replaces a variable vaccine response with verified antibodies, so every calf receives a guaranteed level of protection. The colostrum these antibodies are purified from comes from cows on a strict commercial scour vaccine program, but in order to guarantee high levels of E. coli and coronavirus antibodies, these cows are also exposed to ImmuCell’s proprietary vaccine regimen. A single gel tube administered at birth, along with maternal colostrum, has been proven effective, in third-party research to provide passive immunity against K99+ E. coli and bovine coronavirus infections. DUAL-FORCE can be purchased from a veterinarian or your local animal health supplier.
