Columnists - The Durango Herald

The value in foster field trips

I recently completed an online course with Maddie’s Fund, a national nonprofit that provides resources to animal welfare organizations. Through this course, I learned a great deal about the ...

DATE: Sep 17, 2021 | CATEGORY: From the Humane Society

Advice to leads to falling-out

DEAR ABBY: I have been in my second marriage for almost 20 years. My wife came with two grown children, who each have two kids. I have tried to be the best family man I could, and a fath...

DATE: Sep 16, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Local musician kicks off solo career

Sometimes you have to start over. Or as Joshua Polaris, aka Josh Hoffman, says, hit the reset button. It’s what the local musician is doing as he kicks off a solo career after spending the ...

DATE: Sep 16, 2021 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

La Plata County 4-H members earn awards at Colorado State Fair

Our 4-H year wraps up at the end of September, which means we get to reflect on the year we had and plan for next year. In August, we held our La Plata County Fair. It was a wonderful week –...

DATE: Sep 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Belly fat: What you don’t see in the mirror

Millions of Americans struggle to prevent or lose accumulated belly fat. Many times, the No. 1 focus is our appearance. However, belly fat is also terrible for your health. There are two ty...

DATE: Sep 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Healing Nutrition

Editorial Cartoons

DATE: Sep 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Editorial Cartoons

Pandemic leaves social skills rusty

DEAR ABBY: I am a guy who is 27. I have always been somewhat shy and reserved, but I do like people and I like mixing. After more than a year of being “locked down” during the COVID-19 p...

DATE: Sep 14, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Courthouse clock rings true once again

Dear Action Line: Why is the La Plata County Courthouse clocktower always sounding 8 minutes after the hour? Today I think it was actually 14 minutes late. Can you inquire with Quasimodo...

DATE: Sep 13, 2021 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Tales from the Grand Canyon’s North Rim

Fewer visitors make the trek to this side of the canyon, which has its own rich history

DATE: Sep 11, 2021 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

The time of giving is here

Autumn is by far my favorite time of year. I love fall sports, the cooler nights and changing colors. It’s not only a change in season, it’s a change in habits as the days get shorter, whi...

DATE: Sep 11, 2021 | CATEGORY: From the Chamber

Webb telescope to look at universe’s most distant objects

Greetings, stargazers. Light from distant stars travels for years in a perfectly straight line to get to Earth, only to be jiggled around and dispersed by the atmosphere in the last few kilo...

DATE: Sep 11, 2021 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

It’s important for all of us to educate ourselves about disability issues

When we speak of people with disabilities, we (present company included) often speak as though they are a single monolith. We do this because it more easily allows us to speak in broad strok...

DATE: Sep 10, 2021 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

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