Columnists - The Durango Herald

Farhad Manjoo: Stop pretending the single-family home is good

When my family emigrated from our native South Africa to Southern California in the 1980s, my parents, my sister and I fell hard for this state’s endless suburban sprawl. To the four of us, ...

DATE: Feb 6, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Eating for a healthy thyroid

If you’re experiencing weight gain, intolerance to cold temperatures, or hair loss, it might be a sign your body is not making enough thyroid hormones. And, guess what ... you’re not alone. ...

DATE: Feb 5, 2020 | CATEGORY: Healing Nutrition

Man getting divorced mulls reunion

Dear Abby: I was married to a wonderful, beautiful woman when we were much younger. We got married because of an unplanned pregnancy. After some years, we both had grown in different dir...

DATE: Feb 4, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Tips to successfully start your own plants this year

Many of you out there consider New Year’s Day the first day of the year. However, there are others who consider it the start of the next gardening season. Don’t believe me? You k...

DATE: Feb 3, 2020 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Alleys have allies for old ugly sheds

What about doing a column about the great old ugly sheds in the alleys around West Second and West Third avenues? They seem to be jam-packed with old stuff. It would be nice to have some pho...

DATE: Feb 3, 2020 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Rep. Barbara McLachlan: We want to encourage rural business

After a couple of weeks celebrating our Western heritage at the National Western Stock Show, hobnobbing with steers in the Brown Palace Hotel during their high tea, enjoying dinner with memb...

DATE: Feb 1, 2020 | CATEGORY: From the State House

Embrace the ‘P’ word

Don’t hate me for using the “P” word. Yes, I’m referencing “politics.” Oh, I heard your collective moan, but I’m being serious here. We all are going to continue to be...

DATE: Feb 1, 2020 | CATEGORY: From the Chamber

Facial-recognition technology stokes privacy concerns

Before Santiago Gassó’s recent flight from Atlanta to Mexico City, a Delta Air Lines gate agent announced a new boarding procedure. Instead of showing an ID and receiving paper boarding pass...

DATE: Jan 31, 2020 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Library can help with census

Census 2020 is approaching, and this time, libraries are taking an important role. For the first time, people can respond to the census online or by phone as well as by paper or ...

DATE: Jan 31, 2020 | CATEGORY: Shelf Life

Two nights of bluegrass with Lil Smokies

The latest record from Montana’s The Lil Smokies was made with a summer camp mindset. The bluegrass band, whose latest release, “Tornillo,” dropped last week, have recorded their...

DATE: Jan 31, 2020 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Choosing a rational suicide after a complete life

There is a difference between committing suicide and an elder choosing to end their life to avoid continued suffering from terminal illness. We regularly hear in the news about p...

DATE: Jan 31, 2020 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

Siblings don’t visit family members

Dear Abby: I have a problem I haven’t seen in your column before. My husband comes from a large family with siblings spread far and wide. We live in the home state and are happy to accom...

DATE: Jan 31, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

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