Columnists - The Durango Herald

Balloons rise above red rocks: The Bluff, Utah, Balloon Festival

Every Western small town crows about its festivals, but only Bluff, Utah, has balloons that launch beneath red rock cliffs on cool January mornings. Balloons gracefully glide upward with a l...

DATE: Dec 10, 2022 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Long history of political acts invading Olympic games

Because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, should Russian and Belarusian athletes be allowed to compete in international sports? This nagging question persists. The answers have varied dependi...

DATE: Dec 9, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Monheit plays Durango Cool Jazz event

Jazz vocalist Jane Monheit did not have the typical childhood aspirations of what she was going to be when she grew up. She wasn’t going to be a teacher, a doctor, a nurse or any of those yo...

DATE: Dec 8, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Strangers saw chat very differently

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend of two years works for a company with 160 employees, 95 miles from our town. He held a party at a restaurant located near the company. I knew no one and doubt very mu...

DATE: Dec 8, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Take home baking to the next level, be a Cottage Foods producer

Some people just have a penchant and talent for baking. Their skillful blending of art and food chemistry results in a delightful display of edible creativity. What a unique gift for the luc...

DATE: Dec 8, 2022 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Meaning of nebula remains ‘fuzzy’

Greetings stargazers. Many scientific terms are very specific, but the term nebula is, well, nebulous. In a very generic sense, it simply means a fuzzy thing. But there are a wide variety of...

DATE: Dec 8, 2022 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Climate change action not a spectator sport

Climate change is a stress-multiplier. For example, though drought is common in our region, climate change has made the current drought the longest and deepest in at least 1,200 years. Clima...

DATE: Dec 7, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Red Flag laws must be used to work

When Colorado passed its Red Flag law, called “Extreme Risk Protection Orders,” in 2019, El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder announced his opposition. “I am exploring all legal options and am ...

DATE: Dec 7, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Man divides time with wife, mistress

DEAR ABBY: I have been married to my wife for a little over a year. I love her. However, right before our wedding, I met a co-worker I’ll call “Alexis.” We hit it off, and I consider her a c...

DATE: Dec 6, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Where’s that confounded parking garage?

Dear Action Line: I have looked all over for this garage. Can you help? – E. Lee Gullparker Dear E. Lee: OK, after spending all weekend driving around Durango, Action Line is stumped to...

DATE: Dec 5, 2022 | CATEGORY: Action Line

What we learned from CD-3 midterm elections

The recent elections in our 3rd Congressional District may be a turning point. But where it is leading us is far from settled. Nevertheless, there are four lessons from the recent election w...

DATE: Dec 4, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Irony in crypto lender filing for Chapter 11 protection

Within the bankruptcies of crypto lenders, there is a genuine irony: The centralized governmental authority cryptocurrency denounces is its savior. Earlier this month, FTX filed for Chapter ...

DATE: Dec 4, 2022 | 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