Columnists - The Durango Herald

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

Restricted diet makes parties awkward

Dear Abby: I have multiple chronic health conditions. Because my symptoms are worsened by a lot of foods, I’m on a highly restricted diet. If I stay on it, I feel as well as possible. (I...

DATE: Jan 30, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Bret Stephens: Anyone but Trump? Let’s rethink that, shall we?

Donald Trump is a lawless president and revolting person who richly deserved his impeachment and, in a better world, would be convicted in the Senate and removed from the White House. That’s...

DATE: Jan 29, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Same ol’ weather isn’t grounded in reality

The NOAA website for Durango is one of my go-to sources for weather forecasts, along with durangoweatherguy.com. However, for many days now the NOAA site has shown incorrect information – an...

DATE: Jan 27, 2020 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Healthy habits can be a shield against disease

It has been said that human beings are creatures of habit. Of course, this applies as equally to bad habits as to good ones. As it turns out, much of our health is dependent upon...

DATE: Jan 26, 2020 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Ross Douthat: Andrew Jackson goes hunting in the Persian Gulf

There’s a witticism that makes the rounds on Twitter whenever Donald Trump does something particularly plutocratic or corrupt, a variation on the following: Look, this is what all those folk...

DATE: Jan 26, 2020 | CATEGORY: Ross Douthat

Melissa Youssef: We’re checking the city budget more than twice

Small-town politics are unique because local residents are connected to each other in so many ways. We are friends, neighbors and co-workers. We experience multi-layered community relationsh...

DATE: Jan 25, 2020 | CATEGORY: From the Mayor

Laura Packard: Let’s spotlight Gardner’s real record

In Sen. Cory Gardner’s op-ed for this paper (“ I’m a stage 4 cancer survivor. I moved to Colorado at the beginning of last year because I needed to keep my health insurance, despite all of ...

DATE: Jan 25, 2020 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Here’s how to help your Local First Foundation

Local First, the nonprofit organization that is the voice of local, independent businesses in La Plata County, has been serving the business community for 12 years now. We are ap...

DATE: Jan 25, 2020 | CATEGORY: Local First

Should you take the train? Here’s how to decide

If you’re visiting Southern California, taking the train from Los Angeles to San Diego makes sense – on one level. You’ll see the area’s iconic beaches, strawberry fields and historic railro...

DATE: Jan 25, 2020 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

New hire disappointed to be gofer

Dear Abby: I recently landed a new job and was excited about doing work that would be directly in line with my education and background. I left a job of more than a decade to pursue this...

DATE: Jan 24, 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