A SHEEP said to be the most expensive in the world has sold for £367,500.
The lamb, Double Diamond, is a Pedigree Texel ram.
He was sold at the Scottish National Texel Sale in Lanark on Thursday.
The lamb was sold by Charlie Boden and family from their Sportsmans flock in Stockport, Cheshire.
The price quickly escalated from an opening bid of £10,500 and the animal was bought by a three-way partnership between three farmers.
Jeff Aiken, flock manager at Procters Farm, one of the buyers, told the PA news agency: "The Texel for a start is the best breed in the UK and the pedigree side of it is getting bigger. If you want the best you have to try and buy the best.
"It's an exceptional animal and the best Texel sheep I've ever seen. Hopefully he'll do a good job on all three flocks."
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He stressed the price is a "one-off" and said he did not want it to give the wrong impression of the farming industry.
"There's a small percentage of pedigree buyers that can club together and pay big money, but at the end of the day the commercial farmers are just as important if not more important - they are putting food on our tables," he said.
"I'm in the fortunate position that I can spend that sort of money."
Aiken added: "He is the best lamb I have ever seen - so correct on his legs, bright, with a great top.
"He's got it all."
It is said to be the most expensive sheep sold in the world.
The Texel Sheep Society said the previous record was £231,000 paid for a Texel, Deveronvale Perfection, in 2009.
The society said that Texel sheep originate from the island of Texel, one of the north-western islands off the coast of the Netherlands, north of Amsterdam.
The breed now dominates the UK sheep industry.
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