Columnists - The Durango Herald

Can alcohol be part of a healthy diet?

With the holidays upon us and the good cheer flowing, I thought it would be a nice time to talk about one of our favorite food groups this winter season: alcohol. I often get aske...

DATE: Dec 18, 2019 | CATEGORY: Strength in Well-being

Free spirits need to curb sign pilfering

To simplify my life, I’ve been disposing of some possessions. My technique is to place those articles on the curb with a handsome “Free” sign. Most things disappear almost immediately. The o...

DATE: Dec 16, 2019 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Bret Stephens: A Europe without American protection would be a disaster

With the recent conclusion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 70th anniversary summit in London, it’s fair to say that Donald Trump thinks that most alliance members, starting with ...

DATE: Dec 15, 2019 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Dick White: Is growth really what we want?

Opinion columns in The Durango Herald two weekends ago presented three contrasting but oddly complementary perspectives on growth. Gary Wockner, who voted No on Proposition CC in ...

DATE: Dec 15, 2019 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Thomas Friedman: Iran is crushing freedom one country at a time

Having covered the Middle East my entire adult life, I’m seeing some trends emerging there I’ve never seen before. From the streets of Beirut to streets all across Iran, Middle Ea...

DATE: Dec 14, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thomas Friedman

Records on track to be set in 2019

Thanks to the Durango tourism team and community, 2019 is on track to be another record-setting year for the local tourism industry. Over the past 12 months, Visit Durango estima...

DATE: Dec 14, 2019 | CATEGORY: The Tourism Effect

Helper’s new riches: Utah railroad, coal mining town reinvents itself as artistic haven

Soiled doves are visible from hotel room windows in Helper, Utah, but now they are just mannequins. This gritty coal mining and railroad boomtown has embraced its diverse ethnic past. A new ...

DATE: Dec 14, 2019 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Comet Borisov visits from outside solar system

Greetings, Stargazers. It was only two years ago that the first confirmed interstellar object was identified passing through the solar system. The fact that the asteroid-like obj...

DATE: Dec 14, 2019 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Graduating couple faces breaking up

Dear Abby: I have been in a relationship for more than five years. My girlfriend and I will soon graduate from college. I have accepted a full-time job offer, and she will be going to gr...

DATE: Dec 13, 2019 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

What Wilderness with a capital W means?

What do you think of when you hear the word “wilderness”? Take a minute. Do you think of solitude or camaraderie? Of adventure or relaxation? Of wide-open spaces or deep down and...

DATE: Dec 13, 2019 | CATEGORY: Stewards of the Land

Melissa Youssef: The most thoroughly vetted Durango budget in years

Each December, City Council fulfills one of its most important responsibilities – approving a budget for the coming year. In council’s view, the budget should be directly linked t...

DATE: Dec 13, 2019 | CATEGORY: From the Mayor

Give the gift of time in nature this holiday season

Does anybody else feel like the shortened time between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year has taken an already busy time of year and sent it into hyperdrive? If Noel Night was ...

DATE: Dec 12, 2019 | CATEGORY: Durango Nature Studies

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