The most expensive working sheepdog in the world has been sold in Skipton

Two-year-old border collie Megan broke the world record for the most expensive working sheepdog sale when an American beef farmer bid £18,900 by telephone for her at Skipton Auction Mart last week.

The market's sheepdog sales are world-famous and often attract overseas buyers keen to introduce superior British-bred bloodstock to their farms.

Incredible moment triplet lambs are born on a farm near Barnsley captured on cameraDespite having been raised in Northumberland and taught to round up sheep, Megan will now be herding Wagyu cattle when she arrives in Oklahoma.

The collie even has a celebrity owner - she was put up for auction by Emma Gray, 34, who hit the headlines in her early 20s when she took on the tenancy of a remote National Trust farm with no mains electricity and became known as 'Britain's loneliest shepherdess'. She is the first woman to win at the Northumberland Sheepdog Trials and in 2018 married a firefighter who shares her love for breeding the animals.

Emma admitted that the dog had slept beside her the night after the auction after she fetched such a high price. She described Megan as 'the full package' in an interview with The Times.

Meet the Longhorn beef farmers who grew up next door to each otherAnother collie bred by Emma, named Brenna, fetched £14,700 at Skipton last year and was also sold to an American bidder, this time a Swedish Gotland sheep farmer from Maryland.

The average price for a farm dog is around £2,000.

Americans value British-bred sheepdogs because of the terrain they are reared in and their respected bloodlines.

Megan's new owner is Brian D Stamps, a 44-year-old businessman who farms cattle at his ranch in Grady County, Oklahoma. He also owns an oil and gas company.

He rears full-blooded Wagyu cattle on his 2,000-acre station, and also has a satellite herd in Australia, where elite genetic engineering takes place to ensure purity.

He said: “I have followed the Skipton sale for several years as I used to run border collies here Stateside. I figured it would be the best place available to secure a dog which would meet our needs. I did not know about Emma, but read posts she made about a Facebook group and this caught my attention when I had seen a video of the dog working and how she handled cattle.

“I used to trial 20 years ago, but do not have time to with our operations, though Megan is going to run some trials here and then retire on our ranch.”

Mr Stamps will also consider breeding Megan with a champion sheepdog owned by Aled Owen, a Welshman.

“We do have one litter plan this fall with Groesfaen Jock, a son of Aled Owen’s Mac by a daughter of Aled’s Bob, then maybe another one to a real high roller as well in another two to three years. That will be it. We did not buy her to be a puppy factory, but rather a working dog for our ranch.”

The second-biggest sale at Skipton on the same day was High Ash Hugo, which sold for £6,500 to 30-year-old Huddersfield sheep farmer Liam Broster, whose family also run a farm shop at Linley Moor.

89-year-old Selby handler John Bell, who has previously held the world record, sold Parks Farm Fan to a buyer in Devon on behalf of a client.

Skipton Auction Mart’s general manager and auctioneer Jeremy Eaton, who sold Megan, said: “It was an unbelievable sale given the weather conditions on the day and in the run-up.”