VISITORS around the Highland cattle pens could not help but notice the fine job that had been made of the name cards above the beasts.

But this was not the work of a fine-printer – it was done instead by keen amateur calligrapher, Allan Mackay, the farm manager at Hope and Melness Estates, in Caithness.

“I’d learnt to do it at school but as I’m keen on Highland cattle, I’d done some pen cards for breeders about four years ago,” Allan told The SF.

This has now blossomed to the stage where he does almost all of the name cards for the breed. But it’s not all done without an end-game in mind, as Allan gets donations which he gives to charity for doing the work.

This year he was given £140, all of which he will give to the Marie Curie Nursing Service. Fittingly so, as Allan is in the midst of having his own fight with cancer, while keen Highland cattle breeder, Catherine McKechnie, is a Marie Curie nurse.