An estimated 9.5 million litres of milk has been disposed of as treacherous road conditions affected Fonterra's collection throughout New Zealand over the past two days.
Late yesterday, a Fonterra spokeswoman said it had been a "reasonable day" collecting milk, given the weather conditions, and good progress was being made "to get back to where we should be".
Milk collections were not possible from about 2011 of Fonterra's 10,500 dairy farms, with those farmers having to dispose of the milk.
Where they could, farmers were feeding the milk to calves or dumping it into effluent-holding ponds.
Fonterra was working with regional councils throughout the country on the milk disposal, she said.
The dairy co-operative's officials met early yesterday to see if they could get tankers out on the road. The number of farms affected in Otago was not available.
North Otago Federated Farmers dairy section chairman Robert Borst said it was a pity to see so much milk wasted, but tanker drivers' lives could not be put at risk.
Usually, milk was disposed of through the effluent system and sprayed over the farm and there would not be any environmental concerns. Procedures were in place, as part of the supply agreement, to deal with it, he said.
While milk collection was unaffected on his Five Forks property, the past few days had been "a bit challenging", with snow in the midst of calving "not the best". They had been vigilant checking cows, to minimise losses, but had still lost a few calves.
There had been plenty of warning of the cold snap, which had allowed time to prepare, he said.
Otago Federated Farmers dairy chairman David Wilson, who was about halfway through calving, said cows and calves seemed to be coping quite well with the cold weather.