Letters to the Editor - The Durango Herald

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What were they thinking? And drinking?

My goodness – what is going on with the new curbing on North College Drive? Who designed the curbing? Why? I want whatever it is he is drinking. Skip Vaughan Durango ...

DATE: Sep 7, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

The mad king has no boundaries

With the help of Trump’s federal judges, the Epstein files will never be seen by the public. His entire administration was created with only one mission and that is to protect their king. T...

DATE: Sep 5, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Only citizens can stop Trump’s enforcers

The story of the future of America may be defined by Stephen Miller, the propaganda minister of the White House, organizing armies of control and retribution for the age-damaged president. M...

DATE: Sep 5, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

Tax hike won’t fix self-inflicted revenue problem

La Plata County commissioners are asking voters to approve a 1% sales tax increase this November to fund basic services (Herald, Aug. 27). While I understand the need to maintain roads, law ...

DATE: Sep 3, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

Are we celebrating lower expectations?

Durango School District recently celebrated rising CMAS test scores (Herald, Jul. 25). But before we applaud, let’s ask a harder question: What exactly are we celebrating? Ten years ago, Col...

DATE: Sep 3, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

When words fail, a simple ‘thank you’

Thank you to all the agencies that coordinated the response to the Blue Ridge Fire in Forest Lakes. As a resident, I am grateful for the rapidity and intensity of those called to action. Wh...

DATE: Aug 31, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

An opportunity for local stores to up their game

I read with interest the article, Durango residents protest REI, urge shoppers to support local stores,” (Herald, Aug. 24) pertaining to the eight individuals protesting the opening of the n...

DATE: Aug 31, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

Just say ‘no’ to Goliath

The optimistic editorial, “Good Neighbors,” (Herald, July 27) about the new REI, urged giving them a chance as a “trusted community partner.” I wish I could share that optimism, but while we...

DATE: Aug 31, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Dark money, the GOP, you and me

Hope Scheppelman has decided that Jeff Hurd doesn’t demonstrate a profound enough disdain for the people of District 3 and has set herself in the running to replace him. Of course this is di...

DATE: Aug 31, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Our Cold Civil War: Democracy vs. Autocracy

The citizens of the U.S. are in a cold civil war. There are the people who believe in the rule of law and the Constitution that has lasted 250 years and those who believe in wielding power w...

DATE: Aug 31, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

Tina Peters is corrupting our judicial process

Tina Peters, former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder, and four-count convicted felon, now has MAGA cause célèbre status. “FREE TINA PETERS, a brave and innocent Patriot.” “Let Tina Peters out ...

DATE: Aug 31, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

What gives? No access, public notice

Way to go, city of Durango. Closing a major recreation area entrance for weeks without any notice or updates. If others are like me, I rode my bike over to the Horse Gulch trail system only ...

DATE: Aug 29, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

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