Columnists - The Durango Herald

A return to civility and bonefish

Grand Bahamas starting to recover from Hurricane Dorian

DATE: Jun 1, 2022 | CATEGORY: Flies & Lies

Retired man smitten with neighbor

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I are retired. A short while ago, a young couple moved in across the street. A few months later, my husband, who does yardwork for neighbors for extra money, starte...

DATE: May 31, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Someday, nowhere bridges and trails will go somewhere

Dear Action Line: A Three Springs question: What is the plan to connect the bike and walking path to the rest of the miles of paths through Durango? Currently it ends under the Bridges t...

DATE: May 30, 2022 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Woman always revisits past decisions

DEAR ABBY: I’m a divorced woman, soon to be 60, who is often haunted by vivid memories of the past. I constantly recall times in my life that I regret or cringe about, and things I wish I wo...

DATE: May 28, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Sneaky boyfriend sabotages friendship

DEAR ABBY: I have a gay friend I’ll call “Allen.” We have been close friends for 13 years. Allen has visited me often with his friends from England, and two years ago, when I could finally a...

DATE: May 28, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Are you prepared to handle a crisis?

June 9, 2002, I was flying out of Durango to Denver. As we boarded the flight, we could see a large plume of smoke over Missionary Ridge. While flying over the fire, I knew that it wasn’t go...

DATE: May 28, 2022 | CATEGORY: From the Chamber

Reading with kids should be filled with fun, curiosity

What makes a book a classic? Do you remember the “classic” books you were forced to read in school? Did you love any of them? Are there books that you do remember fondly? I think that many t...

DATE: May 28, 2022 | CATEGORY: Shelf Life

As cases rise, expanding COVID-19 vaccine access will help

Where do we stand with COVID-19 vaccinations? I have been fielding many questions in the past couple of months about the national COVID-19 vaccine strategy. To put things in perspective, we ...

DATE: May 28, 2022 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

‘Ascent seems to be religious school cloaking true nature’

As reported by The Durango Herald, the Colorado Department of Education has directed the Durango School District 9-R board to review the charter application of Ascent Classical Academy withi...

DATE: May 27, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Recital series winds down

On May 20, the 14th Unitarian Universalist Recital Series came to a stellar conclusion when three Fort Lewis College faculty members joined founder and pianist Marilyn Garst for a program of...

DATE: May 26, 2022 | CATEGORY: Culture Gulch

For Bogner, a lifetime of drumming

Local musician Robert Bogner was a noisy kid. Whistling, talking, singing, even beating on things. He would make such a vocal racket that his father would offer him a dollar if he’d keep his...

DATE: May 26, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Advocates, ranchers outfitters can coexist with wolves

Wolves are returning to Colorado. About half of us are happy about this and about half of us aren’t. Working together, however, we can make it work for all of us. Proposition 114, passed by ...

DATE: May 26, 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