The lamb with the golden guns: sheep sells for record £368k

Trio of breeders join forces to buy Texel ram Double Diamond in tense Scotland auction

Double Diamond had all the looks a lamb needed: toned torso, perfect head and muted gold colouring. And he commanded a price to match, selling during a frenzied few minutes of bidding for a world record sum of 350,000 guineas (367,500).

Jeff Aiken, one of three breeders who joined forces to pay the highest price ever commanded by a sheep, had been eyeing up Double Diamond for several weeks before Thursday's sale in Lanark, near Glasgow. Heavily muscled, he was genetically perfect.