Columnists - The Durango Herald

Fad diets: Let’s talk about intermittent fasting

As we learned in this three-part series, fad diets are defined as diets that are extremely popular for a short period of time. They often promise quick weight loss or health impro...

DATE: Oct 14, 2020 | CATEGORY: Healing Nutrition

‘Perfect’ guy becomes abusive at home

Dear Abby: I have been with “Dylan” for three years, engaged for two. I have a lot of insecurities about it. We met after my husband’s death. Dylan was the perfect guy at fir...

DATE: Oct 13, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Walmart’s ‘pit mine’ under review

Dear Action Line: For the past few years I’ve had to drive through the open pit mining that’s going on at the north entrance to Walmart. I’m all for resource extraction, but isn’t this the k...

DATE: Oct 12, 2020 | CATEGORY: Action Line

An elk hunter welcomes wolves

Reintroduction would restore the ecological balance

DATE: Oct 10, 2020 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Erik Molvar and Jennifer Molidor: Cattle are ecological misfits in the arid West

In the debate over grazing in the West, there’s a trend toward magical thinking. In “ Unlike cows, native wildlife in the West don’t need arid lands flooded with water to be productive. Bef...

DATE: Oct 10, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Get ready for Durango’s business pep rally

We need to celebrate those things that we can celebrate, and one of those things we do at the Chamber of Commerce each year is celebrate our businesses and individuals who make a difference ...

DATE: Oct 10, 2020 | CATEGORY: From the Chamber

Close to Earth, Mars to look extra big and bright

Greetings, Stargazers. This is definitely the season for Mars, because this month, Mars will be closer to Earth than at any time in the next 15 years. Mars reaches opp...

DATE: Oct 10, 2020 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Wilderness crew clears trails, educates public

By David Taft During summer 2019, our community was deeply concerned about the state of the Weminuche Wilderness. Visitation was exploding (as it still is), avalanches...

DATE: Oct 9, 2020 | CATEGORY: Stewards of the Land

Be sure to make your voice heard: Get informed and get out and vote

I suspect you will not be surprised to learn that disability issues are a central consideration when I go to vote. But I am far from alone. Registered voters with disabilities and their fami...

DATE: Oct 9, 2020 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

Togetherness tries man’s patience

Dear Abby: Since the coronavirus lockdown began, my wife and I have been cooped up together all day, every day. Though we have lived together for 35 years, she’s now discovering that I “...

DATE: Oct 9, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Cody Tinnin records solo debut album ‘Perennial’ the old-fashioned way

Local musician Cody Tinnin digs the vintage. The bass player of local roots-bluegrass trio Stillhouse Junkies is into old clothes and old music, things that were created long before he was b...

DATE: Oct 8, 2020 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Dad wants death kept secret from kids

Dear Abby: My husband’s nephew died last week. He was only 26, and it was a complete shock. No one knew he was using drugs. My husband is attending the funeral and will be gone for four ...

DATE: Oct 8, 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