Columnists - The Durango Herald

Daughter dishes it out but can’t take it

Dear Abby: Recently, I kindly and lovingly gave my daughter some feedback about how she berates her husband in front of my 8-year-old grandson. I told her I didn’t want him to grow up th...

DATE: Nov 24, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Dave Marston: Drought moves Colorado toward water speculation

There’s a concept called “demand management” in the news in Colorado, and here’s a simple definition: Landowners get paid to temporarily stop irrigating, and that water gets sent downstream ...

DATE: Nov 24, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

City fixes problem too soon, flusters columnist

Dear Action Line: I forgot the name of our new city manager, so I did a Google search for “Durango City Manager,” but the photo of Amber Blake showed up. Is this proof that there is a De...

DATE: Nov 23, 2020 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Utility to assist Navajo energy transition

The accelerating transition from coal-fired electricity to renewables is great news for the climate, but poses tough economic challenges to dependent communities like Farmington and Shiprock...

DATE: Nov 22, 2020 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Jennifer Senior: Biden is old. That’s a good thing.

When Joe Biden is sworn in on Inauguration Day, he will be 78, the oldest president to take the oath of office since the birth of our republic. No shortage of observers on the left and the r...

DATE: Nov 21, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Chairman’s Note: Herald has a new editorial page editor

Veteran journalist Hollis Walker has joined the Herald as its editorial page editor. Walker has journalism degrees from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, and wrote a...

DATE: Nov 21, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

The time to act is now

The rise in new COVID-19 cases has caused our community to be moved into a new level on the state’s dial that determines how “open” we can be. We entered this new Level Red: Severe Risk on F...

DATE: Nov 21, 2020 | CATEGORY: What's Up Downtown

4-H County Council, clubs elect new officers for year ahead

The month of November is a wonderful time to reflect on things we have to be thankful for. This year, I am so thankful for our La Plata County 4-H members, volunteers and parents and all the...

DATE: Nov 20, 2020 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Engagement ring unhappy surprise

Dear Abby: When my then-boyfriend asked me to marry him, he didn’t have a ring ready, but I happily accepted his proposal. We were in our late 20s and had been dating for almost 10 years...

DATE: Nov 20, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Third term of the Obama presidency

Barack Obama – his policies and his posture – just won a third term. Joe Biden will be president because of his close association with Obama, because he espoused many of the sam...

DATE: Nov 20, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Find social connections to overcome loneliness

When stay-at-home restrictions, physical distancing and masking became important for reducing transmission of COVID-19, we all learned something about loneliness and the importance of our so...

DATE: Nov 20, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Colorado bucks partisanship to deliver Amendment B

By Kent Thiry, Michael Johnston and Joe Zimlich In 2003, Colorado voters were asked to repeal the state’s so-called Gallagher Amendment. Gallagher’s approach to property taxes was...

DATE: Nov 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