Hopes were high the inland road would be opened within days to milk tankers from Fonterra Darfield.
One tanker trapped in Kaikoura by the Sunday night earthquake was driven out empty along the inland route last Wednesday, the head of co-operative affairs for Canterbury, Stuart Gray, said.
Pending the resumed collection, the farms were continuing to dispose of milk, mainly by dilution and irrigation on paddocks.
Because it was prevented from picking up for three weeks-plus, Fonterra would pay for that milk on the basis of historical volume records for that time of the year, Gray said.
No-one had dried off their herd and the irrigation of diluted milk was authorised by the regional council.
Optimism about the road re-opening was growing every day, along with expectations of a usable route north of Parnassus and Cheviot on State Highway 1 through the Hundalees to Kaikoura from the south.
However, use of those roads in the near future would be weather-dependent.
Time spent helping Kaikoura dairy farmers had been a rewarding experience for seven members of Fonterra’s emergency response teams from around the country.
Team leader Kevin Lockley, from Whareroa in Taranaki, said the main qualifications for the assignment were a background in farm work and familiarity with milking machinery, water and effluent systems and tractor driving.
Three team members came from Clandeboye, two from Whareroa and two from Fonterra sites in Auckland.
They visited all 22 Fonterra supply farms in Kaikoura District and stayed to help when wanted.
For example, relief milking was required on one property where two herds were being milked through one farm dairy.
Another common task was repairing burst water lines and effluent pipes, he said.
The skilled Fonterra ERT team flew in and out by helicopter, took its own food, generators and some equipment and stayed in a local bed and breakfast.
Fonterra organised the ERT contingent and paid its members while on location.
Lockley said it was the 14th such adverse event to which Fonterra had responded in this way.
After the two weeks on the ground for the ERT team, Fonterra Canterbury area and resource managers would take over liaising and working with Kaikoura farmers.
Gray thought some Kaikoura farms had received help from friends and relatives, not organised through Fonterra’s Culverden store.
