Columnists - The Durango Herald

Dad may bring girlfriend to event

DEAR ABBY: My father, who has been a widower for 17 years, has been dating a woman on and off for 12 years, a couple years after my brother and I left for college. My brother and I have neve...

DATE: Apr 15, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Latinas lead abortion-access fight

As we brace for a decision from the Supreme Court, which will likely upend Roe v. Wade and reduce abortion access for half the country, some states are passing copycat bills like the six-wee...

DATE: Apr 15, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Mystery man unsettles friend

DEAR ABBY: A friend of mine lost her husband a couple of years ago. I didn’t think she was looking for love or companionship, but all of a sudden she has met a younger man, and I’m concerned...

DATE: Apr 14, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Punk-rock improvisation with Banyan

Drummer Stephen Perkins has stretched his arms, complete with drumsticks in hand, much farther than the musical confines of Jane’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros. While both bands explored pu...

DATE: Apr 14, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

4-H member organizes garage sale to benefit Ukraine

It’s time for spring cleaning and our awesome 4-H member, McKenzie Albright, had a wonderful idea to help you with your spring cleaning and help the residents of Ukraine by hosting a communi...

DATE: Apr 14, 2022 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

'Boring’ fiber is anything but

Let’s talk about dietary fiber! I get it: If this was a phone screen you would swipe as fast to the left as possible while saying, “next, please.” Well as boring as dietary fiber is, it mig...

DATE: Apr 12, 2022 | CATEGORY: Healing Nutrition

Man makes connection as marriage teeters

DEAR ABBY: I have been married for 17 years with three great kids. My wife and I have struggled on and off during those 17 years. I often feel like maybe I don’t love her. We are complete op...

DATE: Apr 12, 2022 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Many solutions to combat climate change

We have faced unprecedented threats and disruptions in the past few years. Nothing feels stable or predictable anymore. We’ve learned to be resilient instead. That will help us solve the cha...

DATE: Apr 11, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

A dome rises, and so do gas prices – why?

Dear Action Line: What the heck is the large dome building north of the Old Fort on 550? I can see it from my porch and just wondering what it is. Any answers? – Sherri Libby Dear Sherr...

DATE: Apr 11, 2022 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Bipartisan work in action with co-sponsored bills

We often hear about bipartisan work in government, and although it sounds good, we wonder if it really happens. I cannot guarantee it occurs at the federal level, but in Colorado, it does. I...

DATE: Apr 10, 2022 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Western Slope congressional leaders: Let history be the judge

Over the decades, we have had effective, powerful congressional leaders from Colorado’s Western Slope – educated leaders who sought collaboration and compromise, and who put their constituen...

DATE: Apr 9, 2022 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

The far-reaching effects of light, day and night

Greetings, stargazers. I rarely get such a quick response to my monthly column. Two days after it came out last month, a group of politicians voted without discussion or opposition to instit...

DATE: Apr 9, 2022 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

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