We’re probably all agreed that £368,000 is a lot of money for a lamb.
But when it comes to this week’s world-record-breaking price, that’s where the consensus ends.
Double Diamond clearly dazzled the bidders at Thursday’s Texel sale at Lanark and propelled Scottish agriculture on to national news bulletins with a rare good news story. The problem for many farmers is that those headlines are unwelcome at a time when lobbying organisations are pleading with government to guarantee vital support for the sheep industry.
The prices paid at prestige pedigree sales bear no correlation to commercial livestock production in Scotland or elsewhere, and while many breeders might aspire to these dizzy heights, it’s not farming as the vast majority of producers know it – even if 2020 has turned out to be a great lamb season!
Cynicism inevitably ruled on social media and the general public went to town, accusing farmers of being “minted” and “pulling the wool over our eyes”. Thousands of others were much less generous.
Which is pretty much what you’d expect.
More telling was the reaction within agricultural circles, including from some big industry hitters who questioned not just the legitimacy of such deals and the image six-figure sums conveyed – but whether they were justified at all for breeding stock.
Taking a gamble has always been integral to high-end genetics, and the new owners of Double Diamond will almost certainly recoup their cash as top breeders queue up for straws of semen that could – just maybe – transform their flocks and propel them into the big time too.
But at a time when the recession is deepening and a six-month-old lamb carries the same price tag as a couple of houses, it’s a difficult circle to square.
nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk
