Columnists - The Durango Herald

Looking back at what BID has done

The uncertainty of 2020, along with the shutdowns and reduced travel, hurt many businesses in our area. I am proud to say the Durango Business Improvement District stepped up in a...

DATE: Jan 16, 2021 | CATEGORY: What's Up Downtown

Communication a one-way street

Dear Abby: A friend of mine from college (I graduated four years ago) is incredibly kind but terrible at keeping in touch. She has never been good at responding to texts, but now that we...

DATE: Jan 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Barbara Noseworthy: Why I support condemning Boebert’s actions

Lauren Boebert was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in a free and fair election that was certified by the state of Colorado. While some may not like the results of th...

DATE: Jan 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Krishna Sudhir: Celebrating Indian-American Kamala Harris

As we approach inauguration day for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, it’s the perfect time to consider what this means for the Indian diaspora across the Uni...

DATE: Jan 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Couple endures marriage without intimacy

Dear Abby: My husband and I are both enlisted Army (he – 20 years, two Iraq deployments; me – 15 years, one Iraq deployment). We met in the service and have been married 10 years. ...

DATE: Jan 14, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Becky Buller next up on online concert series

Many musicians may be students of the genre of the music they play, but few have the paperwork to back it up. Genre-specific musicians learn on the fly, learning rockabilly, jazz...

DATE: Jan 14, 2021 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

4-H members reach out to elderly residents, others in need

Coretta Scott King said, “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” One of the integral parts of the 4-H program is g...

DATE: Jan 14, 2021 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Michelle Goldberg: The Scary Power of the Companies That Finally Shut Trump Up

In the days after Donald Trump whipped up a mob to overrun the U.S. Capitol in a desperate attempt to stop the certification of his defeat, many conservatives have voiced their outrage about...

DATE: Jan 14, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Busy mom fights to hold temper

Dear Abby: I’m a 24-year-old woman who has been married for four years. My husband, “Jerry,” and I have two young boys. Jerry is military. I stay at home with the kids and work part time...

DATE: Jan 12, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Finding restroom a Costanzian challenge

Dear Action Line: As I walked out of Office Depot, a woman was urinating on the sidewalk. She looked at me, and I awkwardly said, “Hey,” like this happens all the time. What’s the etique...

DATE: Jan 11, 2021 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Ezra Klein: Trump was always a wolf in wolf’s clothing

For years, there has been a mantra that Republicans have recited to comfort themselves about President Donald Trump – both about the things he says and the support they offer him. Trump, th...

DATE: Jan 9, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

New strategic tourism plan focuses on economic recovery and sustainability

Visit Durango is starting the new year with a fresh perspective on tourism and a new plan of action. This month, the tourism office has released the 2021-2022 Destination Managem...

DATE: Jan 9, 2021 | CATEGORY: The Tourism Effect

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