Columnists - The Durango Herald

When it comes to local law enforcement, it’s Ford vs. Chevy

Dear Action Line, I was driving around and noticed the Durango Police Department has Ford vehicles while the La Plata County Sheriff Office’s vehicles are adorned with a Chevrolet l...

DATE: Apr 21, 2025 | CATEGORY: Action Line

What to say to graduates in a spring 2025 commencement speech

All across America, commencement speakers this spring are pondering what to write and how to address graduation audiences. Students have finished their high school careers. College students ...

DATE: Apr 20, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

To protect Colorado families, Congress must protect clean energy credits

Costs are high everywhere these days, and skyrocketing energy bills are throwing a wrench in the finances of too many families in Colorado. We’re caught in the crosshairs of economic breakdo...

DATE: Apr 20, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

A note on history: ‘We the People’ are failing our democracy

Scott Perez hit the nail on the head in his column, “Both parties have failed ‘We the People,’” (Herald, Mar. 5). The current state of our political affairs is an embarrassment, and the cloa...

DATE: Apr 20, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

A tale of two bills: Nuclear got huge attention and means little, transmission has been mostly ignored

Matters of little consequence often get major time and attention. And vice versa. Two energy bills in the Colorado Legislature this year, one about nuclear energy and the second about electr...

DATE: Apr 20, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

The curious and peculiar language of sport, an important part of our everyday lives

I used to begin a Sport Sociology class with the thought of aliens flying over Earth and seeing the numerous stadiums on Saturday and Sunday afternoons filled with 80,000 to 100,000 Earthlin...

DATE: Apr 18, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Happy Animal Care & Control Appreciation Week

This month, we celebrate Animal Care & Control Appreciation Week (April 13-19), a time to recognize the dedicated professionals who protect animals and promote public safety in our communiti...

DATE: Apr 17, 2025 | CATEGORY: From the Humane Society

Congrats to Sam Kelly

Sam Kelly’s talent and stage presence helped him land his latest full-time gig. The Dolores raised saxophone player cut his teeth locally, playing in bands Elder Grown and Pants Party (among...

DATE: Apr 16, 2025 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

LPEA’s independence comes into view

La Plata Electric Association is well on its way toward a new energy future that embraces the benefits of market competition. LPEA recently announced several key milestones as it lines up a ...

DATE: Apr 16, 2025 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

To protect Colorado families, Congress must protect clean energy credits

Costs are high everywhere these days, and skyrocketing energy bills are throwing a wrench in the finances of too many families in Colorado. We’re caught in the crosshairs of economic breakdo...

DATE: Apr 16, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Expectant mom wants father out of picture

DEAR ABBY: My dad is a registered sex offender who has done time for his crimes against children. My mother has continued to have contact with him and has repeatedly chosen him over her own ...

DATE: Apr 15, 2025 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

How the food pyramid is sabotaging your weight and health

Are you working hard to lose weight and get healthy – but not seeing results? Well, listen up: It’s not your fault. The problem could be the old advice you’re still following. For years, the...

DATE: Apr 14, 2025 | CATEGORY: Strength in Well-being

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