Columnists - The Durango Herald

Is magnesium a panacea?

What if there was a nutrient that could support better sleep, sustained energy all day, a balanced response to stress, athletic recovery, healthy blood pressure and blood sugar levels, bone ...

DATE: Sep 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

All are not created equal

Herbs are some of the most amazing creations under the sun. They are full of hundreds of phytochemicals that work synergistically to create potent medicines and nutrient dense foods. Plants ...

DATE: Sep 7, 2021 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Dad’s sleep ‘advice’ embarrasses teen

DEAR ABBY: My 16-year-old daughter, “Lily,” came home from her father’s very upset. She has trouble sleeping, and I have been taking her to the doctor for tests. Her father told her not ...

DATE: Sep 7, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Rolling out the barrels for downtown flowers

Dear Action Line: Who is the city gardener who has done a wonderful job recently with flowers on Main Avenue? Is there a new line item in the city budget for flowers? They seem to be lon...

DATE: Sep 6, 2021 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Celebrating success, learning from failure in the garden

August is the time of year that can greatly determine your successes from your failures. This past month, for example, the garden was basking in some holdover moisture from July. But the wea...

DATE: Sep 6, 2021 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

The Rules for Life

In this topsy-turvy world we live in these days, there is a lot of uncertainty from day to day. I find myself falling back on more definite and dependable things that I know to be true. A fr...

DATE: Sep 4, 2021 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

Private and public ownership

The sales of a handful of prominent private and publicly-owned properties in Durango have been hot topics of discussion within our community over the past few months. From city-owned proper...

DATE: Sep 4, 2021 | CATEGORY: Local First

Taking action on climate chaos

If you don’t believe that the climate is changing, please don’t read this but make an appointment with a psychiatrist; you are out of touch with reality. I have not written about climate cha...

DATE: Sep 4, 2021 | CATEGORY: Population Matters

Son insists obligation for grandkids’ tuition

DEAR ABBY: What financial responsibility do parents have to their adult children and grandchildren? We are a blended family of 35 years. It is the second marriage for my wife and me, wit...

DATE: Sep 3, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Wife unsettled at MIL’s frequent presence at home

DEAR ABBY: I have been married for nearly 10 years. I guess I never noticed this while we were dating, but as our marriage has progressed, it's becoming increasingly apparent he's a comp...

DATE: Sep 3, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Durango native Gracie ‘Bassie’ Kruse: ‘Jamaica was so majestic to me’

Reggae musician Gracie “Bassie” Kruse didn’t want to be a bass player. The Durango native, who has played bass in reggae bands from Southern California to the Bay Area, Durango to Denver an...

DATE: Sep 2, 2021 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

We’re working to reach every student every day

“Every Student Every Day.” That’s the motto written above the entryway at Miller Middle School. And Durango School District 9-R exemplifies this mission. On my visit to every school on Tues...

DATE: Sep 1, 2021 | CATEGORY: Durango School News

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