Columnists - The Durango Herald

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

How an apple seed sprouts joy in the kitchen and out

It starts with a little love and caring. One small apple seed, water, sun and time. A minimalist formula, but it covers the basics of pomology. Fortunately, this isn’t a column about growing...

DATE: Oct 7, 2020 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Ross Douthat: Trump’s virus tragedy is of Biblical proportions

Just two days before Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, several of my New York Times colleagues published a story about the early days of the pandemic, and the strong global p...

DATE: Oct 7, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Finding the pause as the fall sets in

This is one of my favorite times of year – the way the light changes, watching trees shed their skin, the natural world starting to slow down ... Autumn is a giant invitation to ...

DATE: Oct 7, 2020 | CATEGORY: Nourishing Morsels

Research exposes old murder charges

Dear Abby: While researching my family, I discovered that my now-elderly mother was charged with the murder of a toddler 40 years ago, before I was born. She was never convicted and neve...

DATE: Oct 6, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Sign’s signs point to City Market

Dear Action Line: Why do people insist on turning left onto north Main Avenue from the north City Market parking lot, despite having a “No Left Turn” sign right there at the exit! Why can’t ...

DATE: Oct 5, 2020 | CATEGORY: Action Line

The COVID-19 test: Confusion, frustration and gratitude

I had a COVID-19 test! It was negative, so I can breathe a sigh of relief. But the process of deciding to have the test, alerting people I had been with and the never-ending wait for the res...

DATE: Oct 3, 2020 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

Bret Stephens: A secret Trump supporter spills the beans

Chris is a registered Democrat in her 50s who lives in Manhattan. She’s well-educated, well-traveled and well-informed. She has voted for candidates of both parties over the years and was en...

DATE: Oct 3, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

La Plata Cares: Support for businesses hit by COVID-19

Well, 2020 couldn’t get any weirder. And just as the business community is buckling down for a long, hard winter, another financial support mechanism has emerged: La Plata Cares. ...

DATE: Oct 3, 2020 | CATEGORY: Local First

Braided, brookies and a bird

Last week, two members of the Braided fly fishing club and I decided the three of us should spend a day fly fishing for brook trout. For those of you that don’t know, Braided is a fly fishin...

DATE: Oct 2, 2020 | CATEGORY: Flies & Lies

Man threatened by wife’s talks with ex

Dear Abby: My husband, “Daryl,” gets furious every time I talk to my ex, my two oldest kids’ father. The only thing we discuss is my kids’ issues, but Daryl loses it completely. He start...

DATE: Oct 2, 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