Columnists - The Durango Herald

Bret Stephens: Elizabeth Warren is trying hard to lose your vote

A decade ago, it was conventional wisdom that the world would soon start running low on oil and that the United States would henceforth be at the mercy of an inexorable trend. Then the frack...

DATE: Nov 1, 2019 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Concern grows for grandma’s health

Dear Abby: I work and have a family and live five hours from where I grew up. My mom isn’t in the best health and neither is her husband. While I try to visit as often as I can, she alwa...

DATE: Oct 31, 2019 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Genuine Cowhide brings nitro twang

Nitro twang should be sweeping the musical indie-underground nation. Part cosmic country and spaghetti Western, garage-punk and all rock ’n’ roll, it’s a genre brewed and fermented in Montez...

DATE: Oct 31, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Spark fades in woman’s marriage

Dear Abby: I have been married to a wonderful man for six years, and we’ve been together for 10. We bought a house a few years ago, and since then, our sex life has significantly decreas...

DATE: Oct 31, 2019 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

David Brooks: Tipping is broken and immoral

For most of my life, I’ve been glad that America is a society that relies heavily on tipping. First, tipping allows us to reward excellent service. Second, in a world of rising economic ineq...

DATE: Oct 31, 2019 | CATEGORY: David Brooks

Robert Samuelson: The time has come to impeach and remove Trump

WASHINGTON – No one has worked more aggressively to trigger impeachment than the president. You may remember that, during the campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump suggested that, should he ...

DATE: Oct 28, 2019 | CATEGORY: Robert Samuelson

Hope springs eternal for river trail repairs

Wouldn’t it be a “no brainer” to maintain the asphalt portion of the Animas River Trail behind Durango High School? You’d think so, given so much time, money and effort is being used for the...

DATE: Oct 28, 2019 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Mark Hillman: State government hasn’t earned our trust; No on CC

Colorado voters will soon be asked to approve Proposition CC, an innocent-sounding ballot measure asking us to “just trust” state government to spend our tax dollars without limitation. ...

DATE: Oct 27, 2019 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Recognizing signs of a heart attack early can save a life

It is one of the scariest health events and one of the most important to quickly recognize and address. Known to doctors as a myocardial infarction, I’m talking about a heart attack. ...

DATE: Oct 27, 2019 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Mark Kennedy and Tony Frank: Prop CC is an investment for all

Colorado is rightfully proud of its strong economy and national reputation as a hub for critical economic sectors such as biosciences, aerospace, energy, agriculture and health care. Yet fun...

DATE: Oct 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Don Coram and Ellen Roberts: Yes on DD, for the water

We have represented the Western Slope in the legislature for more than 20 years between us. When you’re from rural Colorado, fighting for our water is the first thing you learn how to do. ...

DATE: Oct 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

For water safety abroad, don’t rely on your eyes

Water standards vary around the world. About 71% of the global population uses a safely managed drinking water service, according to the World Health Organization. But 785 millio...

DATE: Oct 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

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