Columnists - The Durango Herald

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

Will eating breakfast really fuel your day?

As we bring in a new year filled with new beginnings, it’s time to reflect on your own health and vision for what you want to achieve. You might establish new resolutions, or you ...

DATE: Jan 9, 2021 | CATEGORY: Strength in Well-being

Smokestacks come down: The end of an era in Page, Arizona

On the morning of Dec. 18, massive simultaneous explosions leveled three huge 775-foot-tall smokestacks at Page, Arizona. It was the end of an era for the Navajo Generating Stati...

DATE: Jan 9, 2021 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

In January, Earth moves fastest around the sun

Greetings, stargazers. January is the month that the Earth moves the fastest around the sun. Or looked at from our perspective, the sun moves faster through the sky in January. E...

DATE: Jan 9, 2021 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

It’s time to reframe our perception of disability

I once had a dance teacher who swore that some of the most innovative dance moves were created by dancers with injuries that prevented them from doing a move correctly. What they created to ...

DATE: Jan 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

Family makes little effort to stay in touch

Dear Abby: I am a 72-year-old divorcee. I live alone in a 55-and-older community where I have many friends and an active life. My three adult children are ages 37 to 43. The ...

DATE: Jan 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Duane “Chili” Yazzie: Haaland at Interior would offer real balance

The concerns of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico, Power the Future and the Republican Party of New Mexico on the nomination of Deb ...

DATE: Jan 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Jamelle Bouie: Congress must impeach to prevent further threats to democracy

The most shocking thing about Wednesday’s assault on the Capitol is that it happened. That this was whipped up by the president makes it an actual attack on the separation of pow...

DATE: Jan 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Time to rethink how we handle challenges to public lands

It needs no saying that 2020 was a radical departure from normal, and it’s becoming quite clear that it left its mark on our nation’s most iconic public lands. Countless trails a...

DATE: Jan 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Stewards of the Land

Togetherness strains relationship

Dear Abby: I have been in a relationship with a wonderful man, “Andy,” for two years. I couldn’t ask for a better partner. We are both divorced with children, and they get along like bro...

DATE: Jan 7, 2021 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Avant Horizon moves at a fast pace

Local band Avant Horizon formed out of a Bob Marley tune. Members of the local quintet, who are Ellie Ferguson on vocals, Andy Gent on keyboards, Tyler Kelley on guitar, and a rh...

DATE: Jan 7, 2021 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

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