Columnists - The Durango Herald

Wife must seek support for husband’s silent abuse

DEAR ABBY: I have known my husband for eight years. We've been married for four. Abby, my husband rapes me while I'm asleep. I have told him how it makes me feel, because I was molested ...

DATE: Aug 17, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Grandparents ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy’ to toddler

DEAR ABBY: My daughter passed away last year, and we received custody of our grandson, who was 15 months old at the time. He is now nearly 2½ years old. My daughter wanted him to call m...

DATE: Aug 17, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Retirement hasn’t changed routine

DEAR ABBY: My husband retired a few months ago. I was a stay-at-home mom for most of our married life but have worked part time for several years. I always took care of all the household...

DATE: Aug 17, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Is Willie Nelson actually Batman when he’s not on tour?

Dear Action Line: Earlier today (July 29) we saw a bright yellow Datsun 280Z with “Batman” license plate in Mancos, heading for Durango. As we were pulling into the gasoline station, we ...

DATE: Aug 16, 2021 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Go with the FLOW: Fort Lewis College launches new river education program

Fort Lewis College has established a new signature program at the heart of outdoor education and experiential learning in the Four Corners. The FLOW program, or Fort Lewis on Water, is about...

DATE: Aug 14, 2021 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Finding good employees during the staffing crisis

“It can be like finding a needle in a haystack.” That’s what one business owner said to me recently while trying to fill a vacant position. Hopefully the expiration of the supplemental unemp...

DATE: Aug 14, 2021 | CATEGORY: From the Chamber

31 years too long to wait for access

The skies opened, and the heavens shook with thunder. The gutters along Main Avenue in Durango flooded with overwhelming torrents of water. For some, it was a welcome summer afternoon monsoo...

DATE: Aug 13, 2021 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

Erik Nordstrom releases ‘Songs from Underground’

The musicians’ version of the phrase “make hay while the sun shines” is “record music while the microphones are set up.” A record or CD in your collection that’s not being heard is just a pi...

DATE: Aug 12, 2021 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Wilderness Crew protects a majestic, powerful landscape

For the last two months, my office has been in the burn zones, alpine vistas, cow-filled meadows and log-strewn trails of the Weminuche Wilderness. As a member of the San Juan Mountains Asso...

DATE: Aug 11, 2021 | CATEGORY: Stewards of the Land

If you know someone who is active, be aware of the Triad

A need to acknowledge mental health has once again surfaced in the media. In this case, it’s a reference to a certain event at the 2020 Olympics. The pressure to perform is an odd dualism. O...

DATE: Aug 11, 2021 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Dog days at Durango dining venues

Dear Action Line: Why are dogs not allowed in most restaurant/bar outdoor seating areas in Durango? Most mountain towns allow dogs in outdoor spaces and welcome them (and their responsib...

DATE: Aug 9, 2021 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Harvest Dinner returns: Support for local food important now more than ever

La Plata County is in full bloom during these summer and fall months. Fruit trees are dripping along the sidewalks, gardens bursting from their boxes and the hardworking gleaners of the Good...

DATE: Aug 7, 2021 | CATEGORY: Local First

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