Columnists - The Durango Herald

‘Hunters, anglers lost an ally by opposing my confirmation’

I recently resigned from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife commission in the face of opposition from hunting, outfitting and livestock producer groups. The opposition to my confirmation provid...

DATE: Mar 22, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

A crash course on airing your Malfunction Junction views

Dear Action Line: I don’t quite know where to turn with my concern about the potential for left-hand turns from East Third Avenue onto 14th Street. Another “feasibility” study? For $78,0...

DATE: Mar 21, 2024 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Free land ‘came at great cost to Lakota’

There’s a place in South Dakota, about 25 miles north of Wall Drug, that some locals still call “Jew Flats.” More than 100 years ago, the U.S. gave my great-great grandparents and their chil...

DATE: Mar 20, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Free land ‘came at great cost to Lakota’

There’s a place in South Dakota, about 25 miles north of Wall Drug, that some locals still call “Jew Flats.” More than 100 years ago, the U.S. gave my great-great grandparents and their chil...

DATE: Mar 20, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Igniting Your Body's Engine: Unveiling the Secrets of Metabolism for Lasting Wellness

In the symphony of health and wellness, the metabolism stands as the conductor orchestrating the intricate dance of energy within our bodies. It is the silent force that determines how effic...

DATE: Mar 20, 2024 | CATEGORY: Strength in Well-being

If you’re lucky enough to have a horse, you’re lucky enough

In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, I thought I would take a moment to ruminate on just how lucky I am. It’s been said, “If you’re lucky enough to have a horse, you’re lucky enough.” You’re pro...

DATE: Mar 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Sports

Civic center ‘potentially unnecessary, massive expense’

I was dismayed by The Durango Herald’s Feb. 16 article about the city seeking to extend the 2005 sales tax in order to fund, in part, the construction of new city and police department offic...

DATE: Mar 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Wolverines on deck for Reintroduction

Colorado recently unveiled plans to move forward with the restoration of another species eliminated from the state in the 1900s, the wolverine. The effort is spearheaded by Colorado Parks an...

DATE: Mar 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Relative offended by change of wedding plans

DEAR ABBY: A relative is getting married, and the RSVP date has passed. It was announced many months ago and was to be a big, formal church wedding, with eight or nine groomsmen and bridesma...

DATE: Mar 15, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Estranged daughter out of the loop

DEAR ABBY: Three years ago, our 40-year-old daughter, “Tanya,” suddenly accused me of abusing her during her childhood. She also accused my husband, her dad, of enabling this abuse. Abby, th...

DATE: Mar 15, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Get rewarded this spring for shopping local

The Durango Business Improvement District is proud to announce its next shop local promotion – Spring Rewards. This promotion incentivizes and rewards you for shopping locally this spring. S...

DATE: Mar 15, 2024 | CATEGORY: What's Up Downtown

Wolves ‘drugged, blindfolded, collared, moved to remote land’

What was it like for 10 captured Oregon wolves when Colorado Parks and Wildlife opened their crates on a December day last year? The wolves had been chased by helicopter, drugged, blindfolde...

DATE: Mar 15, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

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