World's most expensive sheep sold for £368,000

A Texel lamb has become the world's most expensive sheep after being sold for almost £368,000 at an auction in Scotland.

The six-month-old Texel ram was sold in Lanark by breeder Charlie Boden to a consortium of sheep farmers.

From an opening bid of just over £10,000 it quickly escalated into a bidding war between several parties at the Scottish National Texel Sale.

The price eclipsed the previous record of just over £230,000 set in 2009.

Texel sheep originate from a small island off the coast of the Netherlands and regularly sell for five-figure sums, according to the Texel Sheep Society.

Named Double Diamond, the lamb was sold by breeders from Stockport in Greater Manchester, and bought by a consortium of three farmers who hope to recoup their investment through breeding.

The new owners of the record-breaking sheep hope to recoup their investment through breeding

Jeff Aiken, farm manager of the Procter's flock, and who was one of the buyers, said: "In the pedigree breed you start looking at the smaller characteristics of the sheep - the hair, the colour, the shape of the head."

Mr Aiken added: "We had to pay that amount of money to get the genetics."

'Obscene amount of money'

He stressed the high price did not alter the fact that many sheep farmers are facing economic uncertainty.

Mr Aiken said: "Don't get me wrong, it is an obscene amount of money to pay for a sheep, and it definitely should not be a reflection on the farming community."

He added: "There is only a small percentage of farmers that can afford to pay this kind of money."