Columnists - The Durango Herald

Binge eating and nutrition therapy

Do you lose all control in the presence of certain foods? Do you eat until you are uncomfortably full or even when you’re not hungry? Have you been diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder – BED...

DATE: Feb 7, 2023 | CATEGORY: Healing Nutrition

Newborn’s name triggers drama

DEAR ABBY: I recently gave birth to our second child, a girl. Shortly afterward, my husband called his mother. She lives in a different state hours away and visits only once a year. When he ...

DATE: Feb 7, 2023 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

That bad smell? Think of it as Mother Nature with indigestion

Dear Action Line: I am wondering what that horrible smell is as you drive past state Highway 3 and South Camino del Rio that’s popped up in the last few weeks? – Chloe Z. Winders Dear C...

DATE: Feb 6, 2023 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Now’s the time to start Hermosa to Durango Trail

Imagine riding your bike north out of town all the way to Hermosa on a separated bike trail that has no huge climbs or big drops, out for a casual lunch, meetings or just for fun with your f...

DATE: Feb 5, 2023 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Due process for all or every person at risk

Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center originated in the late 1990s following a community push to shut down plans to build an immigrant detention center in La Plata County. Today...

DATE: Feb 5, 2023 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Longing for an era that was sometimes dreadful

A recent trip to Farmington yielded a welcome insight into what is going on in this country. Welcome, but disturbing. On the way back, there was a large sign that struck me as important. It ...

DATE: Feb 5, 2023 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Historical memory behind separation of church, state

Congressman Lauren Boebert’s statements concerning separation of church and state might be stale news. But she did win the election, so let’s examine her assertions. The statements, made at ...

DATE: Feb 5, 2023 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Soups and stews for the soul

We are in the depths of winter – gray skies, colder temperatures, shorter days and snow upon snow! This is the season of slowing down, staying home and reflecting inward. Many of us do not ...

DATE: Feb 4, 2023 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Sister can’t keep politics out of visits

DEAR ABBY: My older sister visits me every week to play cards and chat. While I love her dearly and enjoy her visits, sometimes I do not appreciate one topic she brings up. We are on differe...

DATE: Feb 4, 2023 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Medical interventions or not?

It’s winter, time to go through my checklist of medical appointments/procedures: dermatology, yearly physical, blood work. And my number is up for a colonoscopy, hopefully my last one. Many ...

DATE: Feb 4, 2023 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

Your health matters and so does your voice: Weigh in on community health

Every five years, public health agencies in Colorado conduct a community health assessment to find out what public and environmental health priorities are important to community residents, a...

DATE: Feb 4, 2023 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

Plowing curb to curb safer for cars, pedestrians

I like snow. I get all excited when a storm is coming. I sit by the window with a hot beverage and watch the snow as it is coming down. I play in it with snowshoes and skis (the cross-countr...

DATE: Feb 3, 2023 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

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