Columnists - The Durango Herald

Around the world not counting days: A solo trip in 1958-1959

Imagine being a college graduate in history and then deciding to seek an education. That’s exactly what young John Kessell did in 1958 by ship, train, bus, airplane, Land Rovers, Morris Mini...

DATE: Aug 6, 2025 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Stillhouse Junkies release concept album

A proper LP should be more than a handful of singles and some throwaway cuts. True music lovers know that sometimes a record deserves a proper beginning to end listen, where you start with t...

DATE: Aug 6, 2025 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

‘Soulmate’s’ appearance could derail marriage

DEAR ABBY: I’ve been happily married for 31 years. I love my wife, but we are now more like roommates or friends than the lovers we were initially. We are also not soulmates. We both agree t...

DATE: Aug 6, 2025 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Coal gets a boost while renewables – and life on Earth – are gutted

A few years back, my friend Norm told me that when he was growing up in northern New Mexico in the 1950s and early ‘60s, his family often drove up to the La Plata Mountains in southwestern C...

DATE: Aug 6, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Rep. Jeff Hurd has turned his back on Colorado’s 3rd District

When Rep. Jeff Hurd voted in favor of the final version of H.R. 1 – the bill that was ultimately signed into law – he didn’t just fall in line with Washington politics. He turned his back on...

DATE: Aug 3, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

A fly fisher two-steps to help Texas

Spend some money in the communities affected to help local economy

DATE: Aug 3, 2025 | CATEGORY: Flies & Lies

Honored to serve as Chair for Indian and Insular Affairs

When I was elected to Congress, I promised to bring rural Colorado’s voice to Washington and to make sure our communities – especially those often overlooked – would be heard. That’s why I’m...

DATE: Aug 3, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

10 years after Gold King Mine spill, the Superfund site is not making a difference

Despite spending tens of millions of dollars, the EPA work hasn’t amounted to much of a change for the Animas River and surrounding mining district

DATE: Aug 3, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Man hopes statement isn’t taken wrong way

DEAR ABBY: I recently reconnected with a woman I dated briefly in the 1980s and haven’t seen since. She’s around my age. We both were married one year apart, had daughters one year apart and...

DATE: Aug 3, 2025 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Dulins Dodgers claim first Connie Mack World Series title, beat Renegades 5-2

Landon Collins hurls complete game and picks up tournament MVP award

DATE: Aug 3, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

It is essential we all stay deeply engaged in defending the democratic process

In a healthy democracy, every citizen’s voice matters – and every vote must be protected. Safeguarding our elections isn’t just about ballots: it’s about transparency, trust, and ensuring th...

DATE: Aug 1, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Widow tired of being alone

DEAR ABBY: My husband passed away four months ago. I miss him terribly, but I’m ready to move on. I want to begin dating, but I don’t know how to go about it. Some may say it’s too soon, but...

DATE: Aug 1, 2025 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

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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