Columnists - The Durango Herald

Mother-daughter fight leads to threats

Dear Abby: My best friend (since we were babies) and I are having a disagreement. She had two kids when she was 16 and 17 who are now in their early 20s. One of them still lives rent-fre...

DATE: Apr 13, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Benjamin Bellorado: Bears Ears murals, rock art, textiles deserve protection

For decades, the iconic archaeological sites of the stunning canyon country of Bears Ears in southeastern Utah have captivated the imaginations of visitors from around the world. ...

DATE: Apr 13, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Mark Hillman: How I came to respect centrists

Sticks in the mud. Overly cautious. Obstacles to progress. That’s how I’ve tended to view political moderates – especially those in my own party. As a 30-something sta...

DATE: Apr 13, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Mario Nicolais: There’s little hope for centrists, moderates

A few weeks ago I wrote a column about extremists in public office and their affinity for ethical lapses. It drew the ire of readers from both sides, which seemed to prove my underlying poin...

DATE: Apr 13, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

David Brooks: The Heart and Soul of the Biden Project

What is the quintessential American act? It is the leap of faith. The first European settlers left the comfort of their old countries and migrated to brutal conditions, convinced the future ...

DATE: Apr 12, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Plate question: An old-timer or just a scofflaw?

Dear Action Line: Can anyone get a “Colorado – Established 1876” license plate? Or are they reserved for locals who purchased their car when Colorado was admitted to the Union? – R.E.L. ...

DATE: Apr 12, 2021 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Tale of a transferred transfer station: Talking trash in San Juan County, Utah

Nobody can dispute the dollars. Or the slap at Native peoples. In a sordid history of broken treaties with tribes, this has a new twist – taking away a transfer station (or a waste dump) tha...

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

Jamelle Bouie: If it’s not Jim Crow, what is it?

The laws that disenfranchised Black Americans in the South and established Jim Crow did not actually say they were disenfranchising Black Americans and creating a one-party racist state. ...

DATE: Apr 11, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Soleil Gaylord: Western monarchs suffer catastrophic decline

The precipitous decline of species around the world continues to make headlines. One million species worldwide are at risk of extinction; North America has lost three billion birds in the pa...

DATE: Apr 11, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

COVID-19 vaccines and rewards

The COVID-19 vaccines are now widely available in our community, and Southwest Colorado leads the state in terms of the percent of our population that has received its first and second doses...

DATE: Apr 10, 2021 | CATEGORY: What's Up Downtown

Aaron Kindle and Jason Keith: Improve bonding for orphaned oil, gas wells

Leave nature better than you found it: this principle of “leave no trace” is the mantra of every conservationist, hunter and outdoors enthusiast of the West’s iconic public lands. ...

DATE: Apr 10, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Spring is galaxy season

Greetings, stargazers. For many amateur astronomers with small telescopes, spring is galaxy season. At any moderately dark site, which includes most of the Four Corners, you can ...

DATE: Apr 10, 2021 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

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