“With performance figures in the top one percent of the breed and many breeders believing him to be one of the best Texels of recent years, Double Diamond is just such a sheep and as the most popular breed in the UK the best Texels often earn premium prices, just as Double Diamond did.”
In Senegal, Ladoum sheep can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Measuring up to four feet tall, they're prized as pets and status symbols.
Flaxley Australian White Sheep is home to the world's once most expensive Australian White stud ram, White Gold, coming in at a record $165,000.
A record-breaking Australian white ram has sold for an eye-popping $240,000 at a stud sale in Central New South Wales.
Texel sheep are the most expensive sheep breed to buy because their breeding lines are tightly controlled.
Last year, a Texel lamb broke the record to become the world's most expensive sheep. It was sold for nearly £368,000 or Rs 3.5 crore in Scotland, according to a News18 report. Its name was Double Diamond, and on August 27 it was sold for 350,000 guineas at the Scottish National Texel Sale.
Nowadays the purebred Damara sheep is a rare breed in Australia due to this continuous cross breeding.
Vicuña wool is the finest and rarest wool in the world. It comes from the vicuña, a small llama-like animal native to the Andes Mountains in Peru.
A sheep sold for a record 350,000 guineas – or around $490,000 in American money – at an auction in Scotland this week. The lamb, named Double Diamond, had generated buzz before the Scottish National Texel sale in Lanark started, according to a news release from the Texel Sheep Society.
Ram. A ram with good-quality semen, adequate testicular size, and good libido can breed 100 ewes in a 17-day breeding season. Most producers in North America, however, use 3 to 3.5 rams per 100 ewes.
In regions like southern Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, people rear a special breed of sheep named Merino. Merino is known for its excellent wool quality.
The predominant breed of sheep in Australia is the Merino. The Merino was first introduced into Australia in 1797 and has over the years developed for wool production. It has also been used for cross breeding with British Long Wool & Short Wool Breeds for mutton and prime lamb production. Merino sheep in full wool.
Western Australia (WA) produces some of the finest lamb, mutton and wool in the world and exports to over 100 countries. Sheep are produced in the south west of the State on broadacre farms, with world class welfare, food safety and environmentally responsible systems.
So much so that the 11-month-old eclipsed his father's champion status and sold to a consortium of sheep farmers for an eye-watering 350,000 guineas (£367,500) in Lanark last year – the highest priced sheep in the UK and probably the world.
Are sheep more profitable than cattle? Per animal unit or acre: yes. Compared to (beef) cattle, sheep have greater reproductive efficiency: earlier puberty, shorter gestation period, and higher prolificacy (multiple births). Sheep are efficient foragers that can produce (USDA) choice quality carcasses on pasture alone.
Merino. The ancestors of pretty much all fine wool breeds produce the finest and most valuable type of wool. Merino sheep have wool of fineness 17-22 microns. Some of these may also be as thin as 12 microns which is nearly the size of cobwebs.
What Is the Highest Quality Steak in the World? Not surprisingly, the most expensive meat in the world — the Kobe beef A5 Wagyu Tomahawk — is also the highest quality of beef. Only a specific type of cattle from a certain region of Japan are selected to make Kobe beef, according to Ventured.
High prices are being driven by strong international demand from China and North America, combined with low flock numbers. A trade lamb currently costs nine per cent of the average weekly wage — its highest point since the early 1980s.
Sheep meat consumption
According to the OECD, the consumption of sheep's meat—including both lamb and mutton—is most popular in Kazakhstan, Australia, and Turkey.
Merino wool is the finest and softest sheep's wool in the world. Merino wool makes up just 1% of the world's fibre for apparel – true luxury.
Vicuna Wool
The most expensive wool in the world is vicuna, which is the finest and rarest wool. It is also the softest wool and has the finest fiber at 8 to 13 microns in diameter.
With their shaggy white wool and their black furry faces, it's pretty easy to see how the Valais Blacknose got the status as the world's cutest sheep breed. Hailing originally from the mountains of Switzerland, the Valais Blacknose have developed a big woolly coat that is perfect for that harsh Alpine weather.
'World's cutest sheep' Valais blacknose makes long-awaited flight to Tasmania. It was among a flurry of barking dogs and squeals of children's excitement that a long-awaited sheep called Amy walked regally across the tarmac of a regional airport in Tasmania, and straight into the arms of her new family.
There are more sheep in NSW than there are cattle in the whole of Australia. Queensland has the least sheep of any state or territory, yet it has the most animals overall.
'Lamb Master' is Australia's newest breed of sheep. It's the result of a 25 year breeding program and a combination of some of the world's best genetics. More on: Margaret River.