Let me try and explain

Some genetic traits in sheep have value - let’s say they grow quicker or have shorter teeth and live longer

A ram with those traits might add say £10 to all its offspring...

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If a ram breeds say three hundred lambs in his lifetime he has added

300 x £10 to the flock

His added value is £3000 to the flock

Some farmers specialise is breeding those £3000 commercial tups

And might have a ram that breeds say 10 of them in his lifetime

He is worth

10 x £3000 = £30,000...

If the breed is big enough this layers upwards to some elite flocks that can justify spending say £100,000 for a ram that they believe will generate that and more back

Throw in that they might also sell semen straws at say £50 a straw

And this begins the make sense

Throw in that farmers are humans and might be a bit excitable from time to time

And perhaps willing to risk even more £ on the rare chance of the one in a million elite sheep and you can just about understand the occasional £350,000 sheep

The difference in value to my flock of a great tup relative to a poor one is about £30,000

The poor ram means my ram sales drop by say £10,000 a year for three years

I’m going to stand up and buy the right tup at £10,000 and know it is a sound decision...

The problem is that the future performance is unknown and this is all shepherding judgement

So I am obsessive about the genetic history of the sheep we buy - it is more important than their looks