Columnists - The Durango Herald

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

New administration means new environmental rules

The changing of the guard of presidential administrations frequently brings substantial reversals of previous rules and policies. The Trump administration gained notoriety for it...

DATE: Dec 19, 2020 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Memories cloud devoted dad’s happiness

Dear Abby: I have been married to my wife for two years, after being together for 10 years. We have two kids with a third on the way. Our relationship is great. It’s healthy. ...

DATE: Dec 18, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

In tough times, people showed best selves with animals

By Marcy Eckhardt La Plata County Humane Society 2020 will forever be remembered as the Year of COVID-19, but for those of us in animal welfare, it will always be synon...

DATE: Dec 18, 2020 | CATEGORY: From the Humane Society

People, projects, learning define the 4-H experience

4-H is the largest youth organization in the world, and it is no wonder when you have the opportunity to experience it for yourself. 4-H provides members the opportunity to grow ...

DATE: Dec 17, 2020 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Records of 2020 Part II, Nos. 5 to 1

This list is a continuation of what began last week, the top five of my favorite 10 records of 2020. This collection comes from a year’s worth of listening. This list is not base...

DATE: Dec 17, 2020 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Working mom pressured to stay on job

Dear Abby: My husband and I come from very different backgrounds. He grew up in a community where all the mothers had to work. I grew up in one where most of the mothers did not. Our mar...

DATE: Dec 17, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Farhad Manjoo: Our mental health is worst in two decades

Nine long, deadly months into the pandemic, Americans report severe psychic distress. According to a new Gallup survey, Americans’ assessment of our mental health is “worse than it has been ...

DATE: Dec 17, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Ernest House Jr.: A solid plan to restore 30% of Colorado’s lands and waters by 2030

“In a state known for its mountains, rivers and scenic beauty, the slow but persistent loss of nature threatens life as we know it in the Centennial State.” That’s according to a...

DATE: Dec 16, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Cultivating your image of success

What will it feel like? For many of us, optimal health or our individual “peak state” has always been a far off dream. It’s been a dream that has been at our side for years – sinc...

DATE: Dec 16, 2020 | CATEGORY: Strength in Well-being

Living with ex-husband a nightmare

Dear Abby: Although I have been divorced from my ex for eight years, we still live together. There is not – nor will there ever be – more than a platonic relationship between us, and I h...

DATE: Dec 15, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

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