FARMERS in Easter Ross and on the Black Isle have rallied together to find sufficient straw to send a vital shipment to their counterparts in Orkney.

The Saltburn pier at the Port of Cromarty Firth was used for the first time to load the 'critical' shipment onto a ship to be transported to Westray, Orkney, giving farmers on the island enough to bed and feed their livestock during the winter months.

The Great Glen Shipping Company loaded their MV Burhou 1 vessel at the Port in Invergordon with over a hundred bales of straw. It sailed through the night and arrived in Westray last Thursday.

Port of Cromarty Firth chief executive Bob Buskie said: “There is only a small acreage of straw grown on Orkney, so farmers on the islands must rely on shipments of straw from the Scottish mainland in the winter. The Port was delighted to be able to play its part in transporting straw from the farming communities around Invergordon to Westray in this way.”