Columnists - The Durango Herald

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

Shreds of advice for paper towel problems

Dear Action Line: What masochist invented the dispensers that require towels to be pulled out with wet hands? Unless they are already dry, the towels just shred when pulled by wet finger...

DATE: Oct 11, 2021 | CATEGORY: Action Line

The collaborative approach: Rethinking how we serve students in our rual area

Three years ago, a group of educators from school districts and higher education institutions across the Southwest embarked on a journey to explore the landscape of their region’s current ru...

DATE: Oct 9, 2021 | CATEGORY: Columnists

Scourge of the West: ‘Wild’ vs. feral horses on public lands

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has it wrong. Like other well-meaning, environmental-leaning Americans, he thinks that wild horses on federal public lands deserve special considerations. It’s time...

DATE: Oct 9, 2021 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

The birds flying among the stars of the night sky

Greetings, stargazers. Aquila, the Eagle, may not be the most well-known, or most recognizable constellation, but it is straightforward to find, and is worth adding to your repertoire. It i...

DATE: Oct 9, 2021 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Earth’s warming temperature would seem to be a front-page story

If newspaper editors really wanted to bring proper attention to climate change, they would immediately dedicate a portion of their front page – say, lower left corner – to an “Earth Watch” b...

DATE: Oct 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Chamber seeks local rock stars

Our businesses play a major role in our culture and society. They stimulate the economy and allow our community to thrive. Every year, the Durango Chamber of Commerce recognizes our area’s ...

DATE: Oct 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: From the Chamber

Generous friend ready to cut off help

DEAR ABBY: I have a long-distance friend I met online 10 years ago. I took pity on her because she was nearly destitute, and I have been helping her pay her bills. She’s visited me a number...

DATE: Oct 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Daughter’s choices disappoint mom

DEAR ABBY: I have a 23-year-old daughter, “Julia,” who I am close with. She has been in a relationship with “Joey,” a guy her age, for four years and living with him for the last 16 months....

DATE: Oct 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Keys employers can use to make a positive workplace

October is a busy month for awareness. In October, we are asked to honor everything from the whimsical (Bat Appreciation and National Cookie Month) to such serious topics as Breast Cancer Aw...

DATE: Oct 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

Conservative Supreme Court justices are asking us to stop calling them partisan hacks

You may have noticed that an unusual number of Supreme Court justices have taken to publicly defending themselves – my favorite is Amy Coney Barrett’s we’re-not-partisan-hacks defense – as c...

DATE: Oct 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

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