Columnists - The Durango Herald

Stand Up for Local First: A night of comedy, music and community

This year, Local First is hosting a new event to celebrate what makes our town so special: amazing local businesses, dedicated nonprofits and talented artists. Presented by Alpine Bank, Stan...

DATE: Mar 27, 2025 | CATEGORY: Local First

Celtic music speaks to history, entertains

The history is as important as the music, and the music is as important as the history. That history being of Western Europe, in particular Scotland and Ireland, a history that at times is c...

DATE: Mar 26, 2025 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Lunches with Negative Nellie a chore

DEAR ABBY: I recently reconnected with a colleague from work. We were friendly, but not really what I would call friends. We reconnected on social media and have had lunch a few times. The p...

DATE: Mar 26, 2025 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Husband abandons wife at single table

DEAR ABBY: My husband puts everyone first before me. An example: We were invited to his aunt Diana’s 50th wedding anniversary. His father was their best man but couldn’t make it because of i...

DATE: Mar 26, 2025 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

We need the public sector to provide goods and services unmet by the other two

A popular refrain these days is that the government should be run more like a business. Rarely do we hear what this means. In civics, students learn about the three branches of government – ...

DATE: Mar 26, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Father’s past being used as weapon

DEAR ABBY: I am a troubled older man. I was married with three children, but I drank too much. My wife and I divorced after 20 years of marriage. We were both flawed. I have been remarried a...

DATE: Mar 25, 2025 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Grandpa anticipates delicate conversation

DEAR ABBY: My son just told me his daughter, age 26, is getting breast enhancement surgery. My question is, how do I address that when next I see her, probably in several months? It’s not li...

DATE: Mar 25, 2025 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

New sign in front of Boker Lumber is next chapter for storied property

Dear Action Line, What's up with the old Boker Lumber site? It's been on and off the market for years. And now it has a shiny new sign, but no one seems to know what's up. – Eagle-e...

DATE: Mar 24, 2025 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Horsehair everywhere

Spring means it’s time to brush your horse and your horse skills

DATE: Mar 23, 2025 | CATEGORY: Sports

Securing reliable, affordable power: Why this rate adjustment matters

As we move into spring, we want to acknowledge the valuable conversations we've had with members across our service territory. Your voices are at the heart of our work, and we appreciate the...

DATE: Mar 23, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Upholding rural values, improving the lives of constituents in Senate District 6

The First Regular Session of Colorado’s 75th General Assembly has officially passed the halfway point, and I am happy to share some updates on my time under the gold dome this year. I have ...

DATE: Mar 23, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Cloudy skies: DFPD could do better at transparency

I am writing about the article on local public entities’ compliance with Colorado’s open records laws (Herald, Mar. 16). Specifically, the Herald’s request for various documents from the Dur...

DATE: Mar 23, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

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