Columnists - The Durango Herald

Bringing everything back to basics

As we approach the new year, resolutions are typically on everyone’s minds. Especially after a particularly challenging 2020, we are looking for ways to ensure that 2021 will be d...

DATE: Dec 30, 2020 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Man plays with woman’s emotions

Dear Abby: I’m someone who doesn’t get noticed often by the opposite sex. So when I do receive attention, it’s a very nice feeling. The problem is, I am getting that attention from a man...

DATE: Dec 29, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Wood chips, and chips on the shoulder

Dear Action Line: I’ve never put up a Christmas tree before but with all that I, and the world, have gone through, I figured a hopeful, symbolic evergreen was just what I needed. But wha...

DATE: Dec 28, 2020 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Timothy Egan: Lewis and Clark’s travails offer guidance

Every five years or so I try to return to land’s end, the continent’s western edge, where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific Ocean – the final heave of the River of the West. I pref...

DATE: Dec 27, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Groundwork behind COVID-19 vaccines allowed for quick launch

As we approach the end of 2020, I think that we can all agree that this year has been a challenge on many levels. The COVID-19 pandemic has infected millions and resulted in the ...

DATE: Dec 26, 2020 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Fiancee loses sleep over mementos

Dear Abby: In three months, I will be marrying a wonderful man I’ll call Harold. We are in our 60s and widowed, me for more than 30 years and him just under two years. At fir...

DATE: Dec 24, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Lawn Chair Kings drop new record

The Lawn Chair Kings have been a band for 20 years. That’s twice as long as The Beatles were together, 17½ years longer than the Sex Pistols and they’re catching up to The Ramones, who calle...

DATE: Dec 24, 2020 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Porn addiction rocks marriage

Dear Abby: A friend of mine has recently discovered that her husband of 40-plus years has been hiding a decadeslong porn addiction. The discovery has caused a problem in their marriage. ...

DATE: Dec 22, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Melissa Youssef and Jim Griffin: 9-R bond election was more significant than you thought

Amid all the noise and drama of the November presidential election, readers may have missed the full significance of the recent Durango School District 9-R bond vote, also on Nov. 3. ...

DATE: Dec 22, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Justin McBrayer: Why fact-checking fails to change minds

Nearly everyone agrees that we face a fake news epidemic the likes of which we haven’t seen before. For years, American citizens have reported that they are more concerned about fake news th...

DATE: Dec 21, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

The train whistle’s link to science fiction

Dear Action Line: It’s great to hear the train whistle each evening from where I live on 32nd Street. Lately it hasn’t been the regular warning blast at the 32nd Street crossing, but mor...

DATE: Dec 21, 2020 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Richard Grossman: Half a century later, population is still the issue

“Family planning could bring more benefits to more people at less cost than other single technology now available ...” – James Grant “Either we reduce the world’s population volun...

DATE: Dec 20, 2020 | 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