Columnists - The Durango Herald

Woman accosted for saying things she didn’t

DEAR ABBY: A friend, “Marie,” approached me in the parking lot after church, raising her voice, flailing her arms and saying three people had told her that I told them to stay away from her ...

DATE: Dec 1, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Abused wife seeks path forward

DEAR ABBY: My husband of 30 years has always made me feel like I wasn’t good enough for him. He would flirt with other women and say things to me about an ex-girlfriend he broke up with befo...

DATE: Nov 29, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Blame Clessie’s make: Jake brakes take cake

Dear Action Line: We live close to the intersection of U.S. Highway 550 and Trimble Lane, where there is a traffic light. The residents in that area are subjected to frequent day and nig...

DATE: Nov 28, 2022 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Winery moves into former Irish Embassy basement in Durango

Business offers eight homemade wines

DATE: Nov 28, 2022 | CATEGORY: Local First

Mom deals with fallout from past decision

DEAR ABBY: Fifteen years ago, I “ran away from home” to get away from my adult children, and I finally made a life for myself. They were able to stay in the house because I continued to pay ...

DATE: Nov 26, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Canine distemper: What is it, what does it do and how can you protect your pet?

Over the past couple of years, we’ve all been learning about viruses and what we can do to keep ourselves safe. It’s no different for our pets. Our pets are exposed to viruses, too, some of ...

DATE: Nov 25, 2022 | CATEGORY: From the Humane Society

Respiratory viral season is here

If you are like our family, visits to the tissue aisle at the grocery store have been up this year. Yes, COVID-19 is still a thing, but I’m talking more generally about respiratory viral sea...

DATE: Nov 25, 2022 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Man’s wife going off the rails

DEAR ABBY: I have been married for close to a year, and in this short time I’ve seen a side of my wife I’ve never seen before. Although I met her during a period of sobriety, she drinks now....

DATE: Nov 24, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Basilaris fuses diverse sounds into music

Albuquerque-based musician Lukas Scarpetta wanted to form a jazz band that didn’t want to be a traditional jazz band. It was all about branching out, using jazz as a musical starting point b...

DATE: Nov 24, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Never too late to save a river

An old river-running motto says, “Old boaters never die, they just get a little dinghy.” And some never lose their passion for keeping rivers wild. Consider California’s Stanislaus River. In...

DATE: Nov 22, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Second marriage gets cold shoulder

DEAR ABBY: I left a manipulative and abusive marriage after 18 years. My parents fully supported my decision. When I became engaged to the wonderful man who is now my husband, my mother and ...

DATE: Nov 22, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Like cigarettes, city’s white poles are a calming influence

Dear Action Line: What’s with all those white poles sticking out in the street at the end of Fassbinder Park? – Pole-Stricken This was the more succinct of two questions Action Line rec...

DATE: Nov 21, 2022 | CATEGORY: Action Line

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