Columnists - The Durango Herald

Laying the groundwork to protect hidden gems in the West End

With Moab two hours to the northwest, Telluride an hour to the southeast and Durango several hours farther south, the West End is easily accessible to many recreationists seeking new terrain...

DATE: Sep 9, 2022 | CATEGORY: Stewards of the Land

NFL team ownership ‘a can’t-miss business venture’

The recent sale of the Denver Broncos is unique for several reasons. It is a record $4.65 billion transaction. The former record sale was for the New York Mets in 2020 at a price of $2.4 bil...

DATE: Sep 9, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Wife fighting a losing battle

DEAR ABBY: My husband inherited a nasty habit from his mother. He calls people “crazy” to discredit them so he can win arguments and stifle discussion. I have told him it’s lazy to pass judg...

DATE: Sep 8, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Ragwater brings the rock ’n’ roll

There’s been little rock ’n’ roll downtime for Chris Haas and Chris Rapp. The Pagosa Springs musicians – Haas a vocalist and Rapp a guitar player – have a musical partnership that dates back...

DATE: Sep 8, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Saving money along the road to retirement

With summer nearing its end, I hope you’ve had a chance to do something that leaves you Feelin’ Good Again. For many, that includes travel. The distance traveled is irrelevant, it’s seeing ...

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

Woman concerned about nephew’s care

DEAR ABBY: My younger sister, “Fern,” gave birth to a son three months ago. Since she returned to work, it seems like all she does is dump her baby, “Ricky,” on others so she can sleep with ...

DATE: Sep 6, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Beating the breakfast blues

How do you like to start you day? Do you know that those first few choices each morning will set your brain up for what you continue to choose for the rest of the day? How we wake up in the ...

DATE: Sep 6, 2022 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Purple Cliffs ‘inherent to who we have become as a nation’

JoVonna Miller, a fourth-year student at Fort Lewis College, never envisioned herself living at Purple Cliffs. But for three weeks this summer, it was the only place she and her 13-year-old ...

DATE: Sep 5, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

2017 sign honors fallen trooper from 1959

Dear Action Line: Why is there a sign outside the Strater Hotel dedicated to a State Trooper? I don’t know who this is or what happened. Did I miss something? – Just Joe Dear Joe: Well,...

DATE: Sep 5, 2022 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Could 2022 be the ‘Year of the Weeds’?

As the 2022 growing season comes to close (hopefully slowly), it is up to all of us to come up with the title. For example, 2021 was “The Year of the Grasshopper.” While not all stretches o...

DATE: Sep 5, 2022 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

‘What did you do this summer?’

This is the age-old first day of school assignment, ice-breaker exercise. I love summer and had a good one. Some travel, lots of swimming, good food from the garden, fun times with friends, ...

DATE: Sep 3, 2022 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

Husband tired of being ignored at home

DEAR ABBY: I have been with my wife for 25 years, married for 22 of them. I love her very much, but sometimes I feel it isn’t mutual. We have three children, all girls, ranging in age from e...

DATE: Sep 2, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

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