A farmer was in a field of his own today after selling a pair of twin sheep for a world record breaking £150,000.
Delighted Ian Hunter, 45, sold one of the Blackface lambs for a breed record of £90,000 and the other for £60,000.
The combined price for the pair, who were raised in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland, is thought to be the highest ever paid for sheep twins.
Ian previously set the Blackface breed record two years ago in the same market, when he sold a sheep called Musketeer, for £90,000.
He originally set the breed’s ram lamb record of £52,000 at Dalmally in 1997.
But the records tumbled again with the sale of the twins at Saturday’s annual Blackface ram sale.
The crowd was blown away when the sheep were sold by United Auctions’ auctioneer John Roberts erupting into a huge round of applause.
After the sale John said to the crowd: “I’ve been waiting to smash the record for 15 years and to have done it twice in one day is a great honour.”
Both lambs where bought by two separate consortiums, made up of three buyers each.
Among the buyers of the £90,000 lamb was William Dunlop who, with sons Quintin and William, owns 1,600 Blackface ewes in Dunbar, East Lothian.
William senior said he was absolutely delighted with the purchase and said despite the price the sheep was a bargain.
He said: “He is a new bloodline and something different for the breed.
“He’s just the best thing on the go at the moment and he’s worth that kind of money for his scarcity value.”
Ian and his wife Patsy have been lifelong Blackie enthusiasts and were thrilled they had managed to break another record.
Patsy, who owns 1,100 Blackface ewes with Ian, said: “It is a lifetime’s achievement.
“We never thought after breeding one at £90,000 that we would ever do it again. It’s quite unbelievable.”
Ian inherited the sheep on his 21st birthday from his now father-in-law, Graham McClymont, from Newton Stewart, Dumfries.
Ian is now regarded as one of the Blackface breed’s best breeders, regularly selling his stock for five-figure prices.
