Columnists - The Durango Herald

Andy Mueller: Whoa – let’s not hurt farmers to save the Colorado

Overconsumption of water and drought are driving the Colorado River into crisis. But some solutions are better than others. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt suggested recen...

DATE: Jun 13, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Now more than ever, look Local First when shopping

These are strange times. The COVID-19 weirding experience that we are all facing personally and professionally continues to hang over our homes and the economy. Reflecting on the ...

DATE: Jun 13, 2020 | CATEGORY: Local First

Granddaughter wants quiet wedding

Dear Abby: Our first granddaughter is getting married in six months and has told her parents that no one from either family is invited to the wedding. They want to get married by themsel...

DATE: Jun 12, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Pastorious hidden in plain sight

Even though COVID-19 is still with us, and it seems many writers can think of nothing else to write about, I have strayed from that place. Actually, I am at the point of either ch...

DATE: Jun 12, 2020 | CATEGORY: Flies & Lies

It matters for all of us to talk about racism

I have been submitting to this column every month for more than 15 years, and this is the hardest column I have ever had to write. When planning this column a few weeks ago, I ha...

DATE: Jun 12, 2020 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

Shafer’s album a new take on old-time music

Be it old-time, punk rock or jazz, a conversation about music with local musician Brendan Shafer is always enlightening discourse. He’s an articulate orator who will sell you on ...

DATE: Jun 11, 2020 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Raising an appreciation for diversity through global cuisine

A few months back, I overheard my 5-year-old rattling off names of countries from around the world. My oldest is either correcting or applauding her as she attempts to match imag...

DATE: Jun 10, 2020 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Man keeps granddaughter a secret

Dear Abby: I divorced my wife 20 years ago, leaving behind two daughters. My older girl was 5 when I left, and because of my ex’s lies, I wasn’t able to see them. When my old...

DATE: Jun 9, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Too sick to fly: Should airlines offer refunds to infectious passengers?

Can you be too sick to fly? In light of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s a question consumer advocates are raising with new urgency. They’re fighting for regulations that would require airline...

DATE: Jun 8, 2020 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Our region’s challenging weather can batter your plants

Every year, I write about the weather, and subsequently, every year, I write about writing about the weather. Kind of a “Who’s on First?” skit I do with all of you, so thanks for participati...

DATE: Jun 8, 2020 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Have your COVID-19 cake and eat it, too

Dear Action Line: If we have a birthday party at work and the birthday boy blows out the candles, can we still eat the cake even though it may have been doused with COVID-19? – Hungry but co...

DATE: Jun 8, 2020 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Can this time of uncertainty lead to transformation?

What if ... we chose to see this virus moment and this people’s revolt as an opening – a moment long enough to see ourselves, see the systems we’ve lived under for so long, and see our cultu...

DATE: Jun 6, 2020 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

Photos: Durango High School boys golf competes at stateDemons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Demons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

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