Columnists - The Durango Herald

Proud to be a Coloradan as Legislature stands up to deliberate strategy to sell public lands

As a former state representative and educator, and a fourth-generation Coloradan, I have seen the transformative impact open spaces and public lands have on our communities. The environment ...

DATE: Mar 16, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

2A is a responsible, forward-thinking solution that balances operational and recreational needs

I have great respect for Charles Shaw and his contributions to making our community a better place, but I wanted to provide feedback on his opinion column, ‘Vote “against” 2A: Durango deserv...

DATE: Mar 16, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Former city of Durango mayors encourage a ‘for’ vote on Ballot Issue 2A

The undersigned former mayors of Durango support voting “for” Durango’s April 1 Ballot Issue 2A to reauthorize the 2005 half-cent sales tax. This is not a new tax; it will simply allow the c...

DATE: Mar 16, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

A scientific dark age threatens to undo decades of progress and innovation

For over a century, the United States has been a global leader in scientific research, driving groundbreaking discoveries and technological advancements. Over the past 50 years, progress has...

DATE: Mar 16, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Of mice and bats: How to avoid hantavirus, rabies this spring

Spring is right around the corner and that means rodent and bat encounters are, too. Knowing what to do after finding rodent droppings or a bat is critical to preventing diseases like hantav...

DATE: Mar 16, 2025 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

Vote “against” 2A, Durango deserves a better solution to meeting municipal needs

Durango voters face an important decision: whether to support or oppose Ballot Issue 2A, which asks voters to extend the city’s half-cent sales tax. Despite strong support from Durango City ...

DATE: Mar 14, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Colorado is reviewing future energy plans

Every few years, Colorado utilities have to prepare a plan detailing their anticipated future electric generation sources. This Energy Resource Plan lays out a utility’s road map for how it ...

DATE: Mar 12, 2025 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Rabies: What La Plata County residents need to know

The most recent known case of rabies in La Plata County occurred in June 2023 when a bat found in a Durango home tested positive for the virus. While there was no direct human contact, expos...

DATE: Mar 12, 2025 | CATEGORY: From the Humane Society

Durango Contra Dance: No need to be a wallflower

Dancing is exercise. You put yourself on a dance floor and surrender your body to the sounds of the band or the D.J. providing the audio motivation for your movement, and unless you’re mimic...

DATE: Mar 12, 2025 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Poem continues to resonate

DEAR ABBY: While doing some house cleaning, I came across a column of yours that I had clipped and tucked away. On one of the pages I had dog-eared was the poem, “Decide to Forgive.” I was s...

DATE: Mar 12, 2025 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

From goals to habits: How SMART goals can transform your health

The New Year is already in the rearview – are your health goals keeping up? I’ve heard the same thing repeatedly from clients: “I know what to do, but I just don’t do it.” Sound familiar? We...

DATE: Mar 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Healing Nutrition

We didn’t start the fire – but what happens if someone does?

Dear Action Line: I can hear the wind howling now as I write this. Considering the warm weather we’re having, how is it looking for fire season? While you're at it, can you find out who ...

DATE: Mar 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Action Line

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