Columnists - The Durango Herald

Absent dad wonders about family’s fate

DEAR ABBY: Almost 50 years ago, I got a girl pregnant. She left the state and two years later sent me a letter and a picture of the cutest baby – mine. Her letter ripped me apart. I admit I ...

DATE: Jan 20, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Local support is essential for dog rescue

The Four Corners is unique in so many ways, and animal welfare is no exception. With an abundance of open spaces, a 5-acre dog park, dog-friendly businesses, remote work options and devoted ...

DATE: Jan 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: From the Humane Society

Soon-to-be-public easement gets a washing

Dear Action Line: While walking the Animas River Trail recently, we noticed that there are some serious problems with the stairs/path (built with GOCO funds?) connecting the trail to the...

DATE: Jan 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Lawmakers should put home equity theft to the curb

Many Coloradans spend a lifetime building up equity in their home, creating a financial cushion that is often the sum of their life savings. Few people know that those savings can be unfairl...

DATE: Jan 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

La La Bones releases ‘Bones Hit the Ground’

Local bluegrass band La La Bones are into saving their earnings. Choosing not to pay themselves post-gig, they don’t invest money in a ton of merch, tour planning or other extracurricular ba...

DATE: Jan 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Terrible dilemma faces the Great Basin

The long drive between Salt Lake City and Reno, Nevada, on Interstate 80 feels endless, the landscape timeless. But these basins and ranges of the Great Basin Desert are changing dramaticall...

DATE: Jan 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Boyfriend’s head in the cloud

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend of two years, “Rick,” is addicted to social media – mainly the women on there. I’m not on any of his social media, and it seems like he acts like he’s single there. I...

DATE: Jan 16, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Pondering the unthinkable shakes foundation

DEAR ABBY: I have been with my wife, “Sandy,” for 40 years. We married as soon as it became possible for us as a gay couple. While our relationship isn’t perfect, we are deeply committed and...

DATE: Jan 16, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Abused spouse ready to escape

DEAR ABBY: I have been with my abusive husband for almost 30 years. I made several attempts to leave him, which resulted in him stalking me and threatening to seriously harm me and our child...

DATE: Jan 16, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

‘Talk about Biden’s age is code’

It was never my intention to become an expert on language and I make no claim to be one. But it is hard to spend a quarter of a century reading and editing written opinions without developin...

DATE: Jan 14, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

‘Changes happened at pace matched by early settlement days’

C.S. Lewis – “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when we look back everything is different.” The one constant in life is that things change. Times, technology, beliefs, peopl...

DATE: Jan 14, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Sirius lights up the night

DATE: Jan 14, 2024 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

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