Columnists - The Durango Herald

Jan and Greg Phillips: Medicare for All, Version 2021

U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., recently reintroduced H.R. 1976, their improved Medicare For All Act of 2021 (M4A) in the House of Representatives...

DATE: Apr 25, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Leadership comes in many forms

Challenging times call for creativity, and they certainly call for leadership. If nothing else, Durango and its residents are known for the adage, when times get tough, the tough get going. ...

DATE: Apr 24, 2021 | CATEGORY: From the Chamber

Antonia Clark: Op-ed on ‘the Chief’ unfair to owners

I read with interest the recent op-ed by Trennie Collins and want to add some relevant facts. As part owner of Toh-Atin’s parking lot and the Chief Diner sign, I have met with City Councilo...

DATE: Apr 24, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Allen Best: Can Tri-State pivot to stay afloat?

Once again the question looms, this time prodded by a downgrading by S&P Global Ratings, whether Tri-State Generation & Transmission can pivot rapidly enough to stay afloat in the turbulent ...

DATE: Apr 24, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Don Coram: Budget, greenhouse gas emissions dominate session

The budget is almost finalized. It passed the Colorado Senate with only one “No” vote. Sixteen amendments were passed to Senate Bill 21-205 (the budget bill, also known as “the ...

DATE: Apr 24, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

After a wild year, there’s much to be grateful for

By Wendy Ludgewait La Plata County Humane Society It’s been a heck of a year since COVID-19 shut down large portions of the world. As the board of the La Pl...

DATE: Apr 23, 2021 | CATEGORY: From the Humane Society

Dog-walker gives neighbor the creeps

Dear Abby: I am a 34-year-old woman. I live in a ground floor unit in an apartment complex with my terrier-collie mix, who is a very good judge of character. An elderly neigh...

DATE: Apr 23, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Comfort Keepers offers emergency preparedness help

With fire season on the horizon, Comfort Keepers In-Home Care is offering emergency preparedness support to seniors through a grant from the Southwest Colorado Healthcare Coalition. ...

DATE: Apr 23, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community Voices

Manna executive director to speak to Rotary Club of Durango

Manna soup kitchen’s Ann Morse will speak at a virtual meeting of the Rotary Club of Durango at 6 p.m. Tuesday on Zoom. Morse has been Manna’s executive director since 2018 and w...

DATE: Apr 23, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community Voices

Comfort Keepers grateful to Alzheimer’s Association

Comfort Keepers In Home Care of Durango would like to thank our local Alzheimer’s Association for providing training on Alzheimer’s and dementia to our caregiving staff. Many of o...

DATE: Apr 23, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community Voices

Fire marshal, instructor and ranch collaborate to offer fire investigation training

I would like the community to know about an opportunity the Durango Fire Protection District has undertaken. Under the leadership of Fire Marshal Karola Hanks, five members of the Durango Fi...

DATE: Apr 23, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community Voices

Bloomberg Editorial Board: Post-Chauvin, America must think about justice

By the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board The killing of George Floyd marked a turning point in America’s history of racial justice and injustice. It lent new urgency to questions ...

DATE: Apr 23, 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