A meat processing company has offered to take 60,000 sheep in a West Australian feedlot after a livestock exporter's licence was suspended, but the exporter is trying to get a "closely associated" entity to send them overseas.
The animals were due to be taken to the Middle East but the federal Department of Agriculture suspended Emanuel Exports' licence on Friday, leaving the sheep in limbo in the feedlot.
The company was behind the disastrous Awassi Express shipment, on which thousands of sheep died of heat stress.
West Australian Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan says abattoir Fletcher International has offered to buy and process the sheep domestically for export markets, and was working with other meat processors to take more sheep in the supply chain in coming months.
"We do hope Emanuel will work constructively with those processors to make sure that the animals are not left in an unmanageable situation," Ms MacTiernan told reporters on Monday.
But Emanuel is instead seeking to use a company that has a current export licence and is "closely aligned ... in terms of management and possibly ownership", despite it now being summer in the Middle East when the risk of mortality is highest, Ms MacTiernan said.
"And we're not sure that would be a satisfactory outcome.
"We don't think it is sensible now to scout around and try to find another exporter at this time."
Another exporter, Livestock Shipping Services, is currently focusing on South America while it reviews its sheep business from Australia to the northern hemisphere.
The other major player, Wellard, has indicated it won't be exporting Emanuel's sheep to the Middle East over the new few months, Ms MacTiernan said.
Emanuel would get a lower price for packaged and frozen meat than for live exports, she admitted.
WAFarmers President Tony York said farmers were pleased with the announcement.
"This at least offers one possible solution for sheep in the feedlots," Mr York told AAP on Monday.
"It's really really good."
He seemed hopeful the arrangement would go ahead, saying Fletcher International would pay for feed for the next three weeks as the sheep are considered not yet fat enough for processing.
The 28 per cent reduction in stocking densities that was implemented after a review of the northern summer live trade in the wake of the Awassi scandal meant there was still a big backlog of sheep, Mr York said.
"We might transport them over east - we already do that at considerable freight costs - or another shipper might step in, although we haven't been approached by anyone yet," he said.
Ms MacTiernan said the live export industry could survive if it didn't ship during the northern summer, a trade that would be unviable this time next year if her federal counterpart David Littleproud adopts heat stress modelling as he has indicated he may.
