Life in the industry hasn’t always been as good as it is right now, just ask Mr Hodgson who has been through the the floor price collapse of the 1990s and the 10-year drought from 2000-2010.

But right now, Mr Hodgson, who is the Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) sheep industry specialist, said the industry is at a 30-year price high.

A vital ingredient to the industry’s success is to ensure young people are involved, which was why he paid a visit to St Stanislaus’ College on Wednesday.

Stannies’ teacher Steve Jessett said he was overjoyed that Mr Hodgson accepted his invitation to the college to share some of his expertise with students.

“This bloke [Stuart Hodgson] has done more for the merino industry than anyone else for the last 30 years,” Mr Jessett said.

Third-generation sheep farmer Dylan Seaman was among the students involved in the lesson and he said it was great to have someone of Mr Hodgson’s expertise there to teach them.

Mr Hodgson said: “We’re committed to working with young people. We want them to have a commitment to the merino wool industry”.

During the lesson, he explained that knowledge was vital to farming healthy sheep who then produce great-quality wool.

“The better they’re [sheep] looked after, the better return for the grower,” he said. “We get paid by the kilo.”

Mr Hodgson said the AWI has learnt a lot since the “dark days” when young people left the industry in droves and sheep were shot because of the 1990s market collapse.

Sixty per cent of levies now collected from growers by the AWI are spent on marketing and promotion, which includes the Stannies training day, the other 40 per cent goes to research and development.

“It’s been the catalyst that’s turned the whole thing around,” Mr Hodgson said. “China take 80 per cent of our wool. It’s looking fantastic at the moment, there’s fantastic demand for our wool.

“Because the industry is on the up and up, it’s starting to make money.”