Columnists - The Durango Herald

Get ready for a Rockin’ Snowdown

It’s time for the great cabin fever reliever, Snowdown! This year’s theme is A Rockin’ Snowdown, so anything rock ’n’ roll-related is welcomed. I joined the Snowdown board of dir...

DATE: Jan 18, 2020 | CATEGORY: What's Up Downtown

Don’t let airlines bully you with their ‘bad’ seats

Ask Clayton Conway about the worst seat on a plane, and he’ll tell you about the time he flew from Denver to Seattle on Frontier Airlines. “It was the worst flight experience I’ve...

DATE: Jan 18, 2020 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Road, bridges threaten Dolores River Canyon

Conservationists pursue protective designations like wilderness or wild and scenic rivers to help ensure the undeveloped character of cherished places is guaranteed into the future. ...

DATE: Jan 17, 2020 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Birthday bouquet arrives in shambles

Dear Abby: Is there a delicate way for me to tell my boyfriend not to use the same online floral delivery service again? The birthday bouquet he had delivered to me arrived with limp, wi...

DATE: Jan 17, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

What’s in a name?

Names can cause confusion. One day this past summer, our United Way office received a call from a gentleman who wanted to confirm his airline reservation with us. We kindly redir...

DATE: Jan 17, 2020 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

Man in no hurry to file for divorce

Dear Abby: I have been dating my boyfriend for almost a year. I love him, and we have an undeniable connection I have never had with anyone else. The problem is, he’s separated but not y...

DATE: Jan 16, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Black Violin breaking musical stereotypes

Kevin Sylvester, aka “Kev Marcus,” and Wilner Baptiste, aka “Wil B,” are out to dismantle musical stereotypes. The classically trained, Florida-based musicians behind the band Bl...

DATE: Jan 16, 2020 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

David Brooks: On the Mideast, Trump’s making us all look dumb

Donald Trump is impulse-driven, ignorant, narcissistic and intellectually dishonest. So you’d think that those of us in the anti-Trump camp would go out of our way to show we’re not like him...

DATE: Jan 15, 2020 | CATEGORY: David Brooks

Man’s explosive anger concerns fiancée

Dear Abby: I’m engaged to a wonderful guy. He is very sweet, and I’m beyond thankful for him. I wouldn’t trade him for the world. But he has a character flaw that’s hard to ignore. When ...

DATE: Jan 14, 2020 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

How did U.S. get addicted to sugar?

Sugar consumption in the United States has increased from 18 pounds per person per year in 1800 to more than 180 pounds per person per year in recent estimates. That is an increase approachi...

DATE: Jan 14, 2020 | CATEGORY: Strength in Well-being

Trail’s darkness sheds light on upcoming project

Like many Durangotangs, I enjoy using the river trail to bike, run, walk the dog and even for yoga. But there’s a problem at night. There are no working lights between the Powerhouse Science...

DATE: Jan 13, 2020 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Thomas Friedman: Trump killed Iran’s most overrated warrior

One day they may name a street after President Donald Trump in Tehran. Because Trump ordered the assassination of possibly the dumbest man in Iran and the most overrated strategist in the Mi...

DATE: Jan 12, 2020 | CATEGORY: Thomas Friedman

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