Wooldorf Astoria Sheep Set a World Record

It is described as the sheep-farming equivalent of breaking the four-minute mile: a £275,000 bale of wool produced in a climate-controlled barn - and so fine it has to be kept in a bank vault.

The waist-high bale of the finest wool ever produced was auctioned in Australia yesterday to a Chinese company which hopes to turn it into suits worth £41,000 apiece.

At 11.9 microns in thickness, the wool is twice as fine as the finest human hair, with roughly the diameter of a grain of talcum powder.

The Sydney auction saw the 90kg bale, produced by a sheep farm nicknamed the Wooldorf Astoria, sell for more than £3,000 a kilo.

Frank Yao, an agent for the Chinese wool importer Kathaytex, said he had been expecting to pay more than twice as much and considered the deal a bargain.

Fine wools produce a metre of fabric for every 230 grams of wool, meaning the bale will only produce enough wool for about 300 suits.

Rick and Bim Goodrich, who raised the sheep at their 50,000 acre property in southern Queensland, said conditions at the facility were a trade secret. But it is known the 700 sheep who produced the wool were descended from Saxon Merinos imported from Germany, and had been kept in a climate-controlled barn, where they were protected from stress, fed a special diet, and played soothing music. The Goodriches have been farming sheep for six generations, since the family pioneered the trade in the region in 1846. They kept the record-breaking bale in a bank vault before the auction.

The wool was described by the auctioneers Elders as a breakthrough for an industry which had seen hard times since the 19th century.