KOJONUP sheep farmer Rachael Plowman said if there were viable alternatives to live export they would have already been developed.
And considering WA farmers have been forced to hold onto thousands of sheep - due to a major processing backlog and fewer live export boats - it is a hard point to argue.
To put it simply, having access to several markets would help ease the pressure put on the supply chain and farmers, while supporting price competition in WA.
At peak, Ms Plowman and her husband Andrew run up to 14,000 Merinos, of which 1000-head are sent to Fremantle port for live export.
They have 3000 extra sheep on farm, which - at this time of year - should have been sold.
"These sheep would normally either go direct to live export or to graziers, who then on-sell to live export," Ms Plowman said.
"We are going to have to wait until we can find a market for them, but it means more feed, work and pressure to keep them in good condition."
Having attended the live export panel in Katanning last week, Ms Plowman struggled to understand why farmers were being asked for ideas on how to replace an industry "that is legal, has high standards of animal welfare and is being stopped at the whim of a government based 4000 kilometres away".
"If the trade was decreasing, leave people to adjust appropriately, rather than having the rug pulled out from underneath them," she said.
Over the past 17 years, the Plowmans have been involved in two significant WA-based projects, focused on finding alternatives to live export.
The first was in 2006, when Merinotech tried to develop a domestic market for Merino wethers - it lasted one season.
As part of the initiative, members took turns to supply 20 wethers per week to Hillside Meat Processors, Narrogin.
Wethers were finished at a specific grade and weight onfarm, before they were processed at Hillside and sold via a north Perth-based butcher.
Farming about 130 kilometres from Narrogin, Ms Plowman said the returns were low, with more money spent on logistics, feed and time.
Coincidentally, she was breeding prime lambs at the same time, which proved twice as profitable.
"The Merino wethers were slow in reaching the weight and grade targets," she said.
"We filled up the truck with prime lambs and were paid twice as much as we were for the wethers - after all the work we put into getting the wethers into prime condition, it was really disappointing.
Ms Plowman said, "maybe people would have stuck the project out, if the benefits were more apparent - with no upside it was not viable."
It was a similar story, when as a Southern Dirt board member, Ms Plowman considered building a micro-abattoir, through a grower group project in 2016.
It aimed to help growers regain control of their supply chain and lower input prices of south western WA meat, but it never got off the ground.
"There were many farmers over east with micro-abattoirs, either on trailers to be moved around or in sea containers," Ms Plowman said.
"They don't kill big numbers, maybe up to 50 head a week.
"It would have been a more locally-based solution, but after doing an economic analysis, we couldn't make it work."
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Southern Dirt also looked into contract kills and retaining ownership of its product by paying a local abattoir to slaughter, bone and pack the meat.
However, no abattoir in WA was willing to offer the service.
"We were trying to find alternatives and there were none," Ms Plowman said.
"Even if either one of these alternatives had been successful, they wouldn't solve the problems rural WA faces if live export is stopped.
"They would have been small niche markets and certainly wouldn't use the 600,000 head, which were exported in 2020.
"The thing is, if we just have the domestic duopoly that exists, sheep farming could go the same way as dairies.
"That is where they push the prices right down, and everybody leaves."
