Colorado - The Durango Herald

What to watch: Colorado Division I football for Week 7

Buffaloes face tough test against ranked Iowa State

DATE: Oct 9, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

Deion Sanders back at Colorado practice after procedure for blood clots

Colorado coach Deion Sanders was back at practice Wednesday, a day after undergoing surgery related to his blood clots. Sanders had a procedure called an aspiration thrombectomy, which invol...

DATE: Oct 8, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

Deion Sanders will undergo a procedure related to blood clots, plans to coach Colorado this weekend

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Colorado coach Deion Sanders will undergo a procedure later Tuesday that's related to his blood clots, with the hope of being back at practice the next day and on the s...

DATE: Oct 7, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

Prime return for Colorado in 1st game at TCU since Sanders won debut there in '23 opener

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — There were a lot of unknowns before coach Deion Sanders made his Colorado debut against a future Big 12 opponent coming off an appearance in the national championshi...

DATE: Oct 4, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

What to watch: Colorado Division I football for Week 5

Buffaloes look to get revenge on last year’s bowl loss

DATE: Sep 26, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

Colorado attorney general weighs in on Trump lawsuits, governor’s race and rural-urban politics

Phil Weiser says he’s a fighter, and that’s what state needs

DATE: Sep 16, 2025 | CATEGORY: Local News

With Space Command moving, Colorado Republicans tout other military investments

State GOP members of Congress take a glass-half-full approach

DATE: Sep 9, 2025 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Deion Sanders defends Colorado's late-game clock management, coaching staff after Georgia Tech loss

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A feisty Deion Sanders is pushing back against anyone second-guessing his clock management or calling out his coaching staff. The Colorado coach also announced highly ...

DATE: Sep 2, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

King scampers for 45-yard TD with 1:07 left, Ga. Tech overcomes early miscues to beat Colorado 27-20

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Haynes King faked a pitch and scampered for a 45-yard touchdown with 1:07 remaining as Georgia Tech overcame a turnover-filled start to beat Colorado 27-20 on Friday ni...

DATE: Aug 30, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

Deion Sanders picks experience over youth at QB for Colorado's season opener, Kaidon Salter to start

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Colorado coach Deion Sanders went with experience over youth at quarterback in choosing Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter to start the season opener. Salter will take over...

DATE: Aug 26, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

Colorado River Program’s new director ‘cautiously hopeful’ about interstate negotiations

Celene Hawkins practiced in tribal nation projects, conservation efforts

DATE: Aug 22, 2025 | CATEGORY: Local News

Marijuana tax collections exceed $3 billion since recreational sales started in 2014

Total taxes and fees collected from the marijuana industry in Colorado topped $3 billion since the first recreational sales began in 2014, according to new data from the state. “Colorado and...

DATE: Aug 22, 2025 | CATEGORY: Regional News

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Photos: Durango High School boys golf competes at stateDemons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Demons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Photos: Cowboy Gathering Social and Parade

Photos: High County Cattle Auction

High Country Cattle Auction brings top-notch stock and country charm to Southwest ColoradoFamily run, generational business dates back to 1940s

BREEN – The family-owned and operated High Country Cattle Auction is “in the bones” of the Cugnini family, said third-generation owner Chris Cugnini. The business was founded by Chris’ grandfather, Pat Cugnini, in the 1940s. Pat then passed the business down to his son, Duane Cugnini, who then turned the business over to daughters, Becky Hawkins and Chris Cugnini, whose daughters plan to take over the family business one day. The auction, which takes place once or twice a month from April to January at 13062 La Plata Highway (Colorado Highway 140) near Breen, attracts ranchers, farmers and those in the cattle industry from far and wide.

Former Durango resident Steve Greenburg has been attending the High Country Cattle auction for more than 40 years, and continues to travel to Breen all the way from Arizona, where he now lives. He attended the September auction last week, where around 1,200 animals were up for sale. Greenburg said effective bidding takes concentration and a practiced hand. “You want to make sure you don’t pay too much,” he said. “And if you do, you want to buy the business.” Amber Belvin, employee of 15 years and Chris’ operations “sidekick,” said bidders are most often looking for signs of good health in an animal, like a plump, filled-out body. If bidding on a herd, a look of uniformity among the animals is key to a good purchase, she said.

Despite Greenburg already having a handful of filled out bidding cards marking the cattle he had won within an hour of the Sept. 23 auction, he said the day was young. One sale day last year culminated in Greenburg taking home 22 semi-trucks worth of cattle, he said. Chris said Greenburg is one of the auction’s longest-term and most generous supporters. “(Greenburg) pays top-dollar,” Chris said. “And (that) makes me feel good, because we’re giving back to (the sellers). I know these people around here, and they’re the hardest working people on the planet. If I can get them 10 or 20 cents more per pound, then that makes us happy.”

Cattle auction prices have gone up in recent years, both at High Country and nationally, Chris said. This year, animals are going for $2,500 to $3,000 a head – double and triple the average prices from last year. The increase, Chris said, is in part because of a screw worm making the rounds in cattle in Mexico, which has lowered the number of cattle coming in from the south, along with people subdividing and selling cattle branches, and local cattle herd numbers diminishing, which has increased demand.

Chris called the price increase “good and bad.” “It’s great if you’re a seller, because there’s prices that you’ve never seen before,” she said. “Older men come in, (and they) can’t believe the prices. Some of them do this for a living, and they count on that, so they’re so happy.” Belvin said some smaller farmers opt to buy less cattle during price surges like this, but echoed Chris’ sentiment about sellers being ecstatic about the unprecedented profit.

Local cattle farmer Lawrence Martinez entered 59 steers and 95 heifers in the auction Tuesday. Martinez has been involved in the High Country Cattle Auction “pretty much forever,” but recent years have been especially fruitful for sales, he said. “These last few years, we’ve been coming here to sell, because this is the place to go,” he said. “I wouldn’t sell anywhere else. (The market here has) been so good.”The auction’s community roots and generational touch doesn’t stop at the Cugnini family: Shane Hatch, the auctioneer, took over the job after his father’s death, Belvin said.

The auction serves as an opportunity for community members to get together and bond, Belvin said. “When we do have an auction, it’s a great place where local farmers and ranchers can get together and talk,” she said. “They come to the cafe, and they talk about the hay, and the drought situation, and I think it’s a good connecting point.” Chris and Belvin both expressed feeling glad the auction can supply so much generational value to the local farming and ranching community. “I mean, what other business can you think of around here that’s the same, right?” Belvin said. “We’re fair, and we’re very meticulous at our jobs. We take it very seriously, because this is (some peoples’) livelihood.”

For the Cugninis – and long-term employees like Belvin, who have become an honorary part of the close-knit High Country Cattle Auction family – the heart of the business aligns with the heart of the local farming and ranching community. “We’re just good, hard working people – Americans – that want to make a good living, and live off this great land,” Belvin said. epond@durangoherald.com

Family run, generational business dates back to 1940s

Photos: Ride with the Champions bike parade

Photos: Changing colors

Photos: Fort Lewis College Volleyball sweeps Black Hills StateSkyhawks off to best start since 2006

Skyhawks off to best start since 2006

Photos: Durango High School football takes on Piedra Vista High SchoolDemons’ defense dominates in 17-0 victory on Friday night

Demons’ defense dominates in 17-0 victory on Friday night

Skyhawks beat Lubbock Christian 2-1 in season opener on Thursday

Photos: Four Corners Motorcycle RallyLots of motorcycles and tattoos were on display on Saturday

Lots of motorcycles and tattoos were on display on Saturday

What to watch: Colorado Division I football for Week 7

Deion Sanders back at Colorado practice after procedure for blood clots

Deion Sanders will undergo a procedure related to blood clots, plans to coach Colorado this weekend

Prime return for Colorado in 1st game at TCU since Sanders won debut there in '23 opener

What to watch: Colorado Division I football for Week 5

Colorado attorney general weighs in on Trump lawsuits, governor’s race and rural-urban politics

With Space Command moving, Colorado Republicans tout other military investments

Deion Sanders defends Colorado's late-game clock management, coaching staff after Georgia Tech loss

King scampers for 45-yard TD with 1:07 left, Ga. Tech overcomes early miscues to beat Colorado 27-20

Deion Sanders picks experience over youth at QB for Colorado's season opener, Kaidon Salter to start

Colorado River Program’s new director ‘cautiously hopeful’ about interstate negotiations

Marijuana tax collections exceed $3 billion since recreational sales started in 2014

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