Columnists - The Durango Herald

Rep. Hurd fights to protect national forests, advances bill to fix them before they burn again

Our forests are burning. And Washington can’t keep standing by, stuck in process and politics, while homes go up in smoke. Over the past decade, we’ve watched catastrophic wildfires sweep ac...

DATE: May 7, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

What’s up with the concrete dam-like structure on Junction Creek?

Dear Action Line, I’ve always wondered what the concrete dam-like structure is on Junction creek by the river trail where Junction Creek comes into the Animas River. Is it some type...

DATE: May 5, 2025 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Mother dumps problems in teen’s lap

DEAR ABBY: Ever since I was a child, my mom has regarded me as wise, thoughtful and intelligent. She has confided about family issues, tensions at church and cheating at her workplace. Abby,...

DATE: May 4, 2025 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

A Change-Up In Your Retrieve Can Make A Difference

My Friday fishing partner, Kim, and I decided that since spring was in the air, and the high mountain streams were still covered in snow, it would be a good day to fish one of our favorite a...

DATE: May 4, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

Abortion restriction repercussions are real, the pain is clear and the stakes are high

Yet again, the United States is failing women. People giving birth in the U.S. are dying because of political opinions affecting medical care. Multiple cases have been reported of women who ...

DATE: May 4, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

At the front lines fighting for Colorado

We live in a challenging time. Rising costs make Colorado more unaffordable for working families; climate change creates serious risks for our land, air and water; unnecessary red-tape block...

DATE: May 4, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

The high cost of silence: Science made America strong, only science will keep it that way

Editor’s note: The Herald’s editorial board requested an update to “A scientific dark age threatens to undo decades of progress and innovation,” (Herald , Mar. 16) by Black and DiRusso be...

DATE: May 4, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Too many doctor appointments, too little time

Most of us have fairly good health care here. It may feel inadequate sometimes, or too expensive, or hard to get into the doctor we would like to see, but compared to most of the world, I am...

DATE: May 2, 2025 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

Friend abruptly cuts off complaint

DEAR ABBY: I’ve known “Bianca” since high school. She’s my neighbor and godmother to my son. I consider her a sister, and we travel and spend holidays together. Our families get along well. ...

DATE: May 2, 2025 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Executive branch actions thrusting a knife deep into the heart of the Rule of Law

You may have heard a lot lately about the Rule of Law. You may wonder about its effect on your own lives or why you should even care. Frankly, the term is vague, but if you take one message ...

DATE: May 2, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Time to plan and prepare those gardens

April showers bring May flowers is not the song we sing here in the Four Corners, or anywhere in the Southwest. I check the weather every day, just for the fun of seeing if it is the same re...

DATE: May 1, 2025 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

The first music of May

Once again, early May begins with it a basketful of music in Durango. The first weekend alone has three major performances. If you plan well, you can make them all. At 7 p.m. Friday, the alw...

DATE: May 1, 2025 | CATEGORY: Culture Gulch

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