Transport wash innovation wins Aherne Prize at 2017 Banff Pork Seminar

Date posted: January 12, 2017

Bill Rempel of Blue Water Wash, Blumenort, Man. (left) and Dr. Ben Willing, University of Alberta, chair of the Aherne Prize Committee.

Disease control in livestock production just got a little better thanks to winners of the 2017 F. X. Aherne Prize for Innovative Pork Production. The prize was awarded to Blue Water Wash of Blumenort, Man. on Jan. 12 at the 2017 Banff Pork Seminar, Banff, Alta.

Bill Rempel of Blue Water Wash accepted the award for the company's innovative new heavy equipment undercarriage wash.

The prize has become a major event in the pork industry says Dr. Ben Willing, chair of the F. X. Aherne Prize committee. It is named after industry icon, the late Dr. Frank Aherne, a professor of swine nutrition and production at the University of Alberta and a major force for science-based progress in the western Canadian pork industry.

"This prize recognizes individuals who have developed either original solutions to pork production challenges or creative uses of known technology," says Willing. "The quality and number of applicants is strong each year and keeps this award popular. And these grass roots innovations help anchor a promising future for livestock production to feed a growing world."

There has never been a way to wash all organic material from underneath livestock trailers according to Blue Water Wash. Organic material has the potential to carry and spread diseases which is a threat to the industry.

The company has researched and developed an undercarriage wash which is operational in their new state-of-the-art drive-through wash bays in their Blumenort, Man facility.

The system uses 24 high pressure spinning nozzles along with 90 gallons per minute of water to thoroughly clean the underside of any livestock trailer that runs through it. To finish off the undercarriage wash, disinfectant is then applied to the underside of the trailer as it exits the wash bay.

The Banff Pork Seminar is coordinated by the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, in cooperation with Alberta Pork, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry and other pork industry representatives from across Canada. A Special Report on the 2017 Seminar is available at www.banffpork.ca.