Sheep sells for price of a house

London: As the most expensive sheep in the world there is one thing Deveronvale Perfection can be sure of - at £231,000 (Dh1.4 million), he will never be made into lamb chops.

The record-breaking sum for the texel lamb, was paid at a livestock auction in Scotland. It surpassed the previous UK record of £128,000 for a texel tup - or ram - in 2003, and beat the world record of £205,000 for a Merino sheep in Australia, set in 1989.

But the lamb could go on to make its new owner millions by fathering progeny around the world. The sheep was sold by Graham Morrison for 220,000 guineas, or £231,000, at the Scottish national texel sale at Lanark Market on Thursday.

The February-born lamb, which was bred by embryo transfer, is the offspring of one of the breed's leading rams, Kelso Oxygen, and champion ewe, Knock Magnum. It was bought by breeder Jimmy Douglas of Aberdeenshire, who said the lamb was as good as he had seen.

John Yates, the chief executive of the Texel Sheep Society, said the industry was shocked by the price.