Columnists - The Durango Herald

Jerusafunk headlines iAM MUSIC Fest

If you had to classify the band Jerusafunk, you’d do so under the genre of, well, funk. It is in their name. But give the band a listen and you’ll hear much more – anything from klezmer to A...

DATE: Aug 18, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

‘We need to build more, not tax more’

With bipartisan support for the $750 Taxpayer Bill of Rights refund checks that are hitting mailboxes this month, you would think that liberal special interests would back off their push to ...

DATE: Aug 17, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Fat burn: For whom and how?

Teaching your body how to burn fat for fuel (rather than carbohydrates/sugar) provides many health benefits, including enhancing athletic performance. There are specifically three groups of ...

DATE: Aug 16, 2022 | CATEGORY: Strength in Well-being

Willa Cather, Mesa Verde and Southwestern literature

Captivated by the Ancient Ones, novelist reshaped writing about the West

DATE: Aug 13, 2022 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Camera filters are useful tools for astronomers

Greetings, stargazers. I was pleased when the telescope on the roof of Sitter Family Hall showed up in a front-page story July 30. As with many such projects, there are a steady stream of up...

DATE: Aug 13, 2022 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Stewardship crews strive to improve your public lands experience

San Juan Mountains Association’s seasonal stewards have reached the final third of their summer stint. While I hear anecdotal updates from them throughout the season, it’s the time of year ...

DATE: Aug 12, 2022 | CATEGORY: Stewards of the Land

Don’t believe a cartoon talking bear on wildfires

Smokey Bear lied to us. I know that may sound harsh but it’s true. He told us, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” Ha! We know that there can be many causes of wildfires that we have no con...

DATE: Aug 12, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Asleep at the Wheel comes to Durango

Ray Benson has thousands of 78 RPM records. Not “33 1/3,” which is your standard, 12-inch, long play record, otherwise known as “LP,” which it could be safe to say he has thousands of those,...

DATE: Aug 11, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

It’s a wrap on Durango PlayFest 2022

PlayFest 2022 has concluded a successful fourth season. Total attendance for the seven readings totaled 663, according to official records. The new venue, a large, white tent at Fort Lewis C...

DATE: Aug 11, 2022 | CATEGORY: Culture Gulch

Pandemic romance hits rocks

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, “Kirk,” and I have been dating exclusively for nearly two years and live together. We met during the pandemic, so for the first year or so, we mostly hung out – just...

DATE: Aug 11, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Ankle sprains hurt, but you can help the healing

It can happen so quickly. One minute you’re double stacking rafts on a trailer for a week of boating. The next minute, you’re on the gravity train. The sound of a twisted ankle popping under...

DATE: Aug 11, 2022 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Join the fun at the La Plata County Fair

Red, White and Moo! Our La Plata County Fair is in full swing. The La Plata County Fairgrounds is brimming with animals, projects and family fun. Swing down and join the excitement. The Exte...

DATE: Aug 10, 2022 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

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