Columnists - The Durango Herald

From darkness to light

Sunday FLC Showcase introduces music faculty

DATE: Oct 22, 2021 | CATEGORY: Culture Gulch

Taarka to play iAM MUSIC Fest

Conversations with members of the band Taarka can bounce from topic to topic, just as their style of music will bounce from genre to genre. Music was obviously at the forefront of a recent ...

DATE: Oct 21, 2021 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Aunt ready to offer advice to childless niece

DEAR ABBY: My niece “Jane” is married to “John,” who doesn’t want children. Before she met John, Jane always loved children. She says he was traumatized by the toxic relationship between hi...

DATE: Oct 19, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Back in the day, the Animas River was for sewage, not restaurants

Dear Action Line: One of Durango’s finest natural resources is a beautiful river that weaves its way through the middle of town. It’s the object of rafters, kayakers, anglers, bikers, jo...

DATE: Oct 18, 2021 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Opportunities for Dolores River conservation

One of the most remarkable features of Southwest Colorado is the spectacular canyon carved by the Dolores River. On those occasions when an abundance of snowpack blesses our region, adventu...

DATE: Oct 16, 2021 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Bridesmaid slammed for missing shower

DEAR ABBY: My daughter “Melanie” is very close with a cousin she grew up with. This cousin is getting married in five months, and Melanie will be a bridesmaid. The shower date was announced...

DATE: Oct 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Husband resents wife’s social life

DEAR ABBY: I’ve been with my husband for eight years, married for one. Before our marriage, it was just the two of us doing everything together. He has a strong distrust of people, and doesn...

DATE: Oct 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

The physical and psychological benefits of travel

Stories about epic adventures are often the best to hear, and the best to tell. Heading out to explore new places and meet new people is a culturally enriching experience, but it’s also goo...

DATE: Oct 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: The Tourism Effect

The Buzz is a melting pot band

They’re musically a melting pot band with a melting pot story of coming together. The five-piece, Denver/Front Range-based The Buzz formed member by member, partly by audition, partly by cha...

DATE: Oct 14, 2021 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

La Plata County 4-H adds outdoor survival skills project, talent show

October kicks off the start of our new 4-H year, which means we get to introduce new projects and events. One of our new projects we will be offering is an outdoor survival skills project. ...

DATE: Oct 14, 2021 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Kilt-wearing Scot endures assaults

DEAR ABBY: I married a proud Scotsman a year ago who often wears kilts. When we go out, women think nothing of coming over and lifting his kilt, which exposes him to anyone who has a visual ...

DATE: Oct 13, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Alcoholic beverages: Let’s go there

Let’s face it: Healthy nutrition can be a challenge when you find yourself staring into a giant pan of freshly baked brownies or enjoying a dinner with friends only to drink way too much win...

DATE: Oct 12, 2021 | CATEGORY: Healing Nutrition

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