At a time when the shearing industry is crying out for new blood, someone like Blackall's 15-year-old Marshall Baillie is like the answer to a prayer.
Not only is he shearing 100 sheep a day when he takes up a handpiece on weekends, but he says it's definitely the profession for him.
Marshall comes from a long line of shearing professionals - his great-grandfathers Alf Baillie and Bob McLeod were contractors at Tambo in the 1960s, and his grandfather Kevin 'Bomber' Baillie and father Matthew 'Bear' Baillie are still well-known names throughout the central west shearing scene - and it seems he's inherited the gene.
After years in sheds with his family, turning his hand to rouseabouting, pressing and watching the shearers at work, he started shearing seriously about six months ago under the watchful eye of his father and grandfather.
At around the same time he took part in an AWI shearing school at Egelabra Merino Stud at Warren in central NSW.
"He got introduced to the worst sheep straight up - nine thousand stud ewes they went into at Eenaweena," Kevin 'Bomber' Baillie recalled. "I kept saying to him, if you knock up, have a spell, but he wouldn't sit down."
Marshall's mother Liz Baillie said he had a stubborn streak, adding that she'd tried to talk him into trying other jobs to see what he thought of them, without success.
"I think it's good that he's interested in it," she said.
"I just want (my children) to be happy in what they do.
"There's not many 15-year-olds that even know what they want to do."
While Marshall himself is a man of few words, his mother confirmed that he's keen to buy a car first with his money, then invest in a house and have his own block of land one day.
"He wants to work hard enough that one day his money can work for him," she said.
"He also has to learn how much cost is involved with shearing, so he pays for all his own shearing gear.
"He has bought himself a handpiece, shearing plant, combs, cutters, and grinding papers."
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When Queensland Country Life spoke with the family, Marshall had just purchased his first five head of cattle at the Blackall sale.
"We started crutching again this weekend," Bomber said. "We just went out to Lansdowne and crutched 4500 studs, Marshall and I.
"There's not many places you can go out on the weekend and earn $800 or $900 is there.
"If you get in and learn properly, you can make a lot of money."
He said one of the barriers for young people these days was the size of the sheep, saying they were getting harder for them to handle.
"We went shearing rams at Narada (at Tambo) the other day, and Wal (Marshall) shore the stud ewes.
"They're 70 or 80kg and he was shearing 25 a run in them, so it was a good effort."
Marshall himself said the work hurt at times, but he just kept going.
His best tally so far is 120 in a day, shearing weaner ewes at Macfarlane Station at Tambo, and he does 140 a run when crutching's on.
At the quick shear event at the Blackall Show this year, there was no novice section so Marshall entered the intermediate competition, coming up against seven full-time shearers, and earnt himself fourth place.
The family's single stand shearing board at Douglas Park is all Marshall's these day, where he gets to practise his craft on the killers when needed.
When he does have a Sunday off, he plays rugby league for a combined central west team in the central highlands competition.
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications.
