Columnists - The Durango Herald

Library wants to help with career, technology skills

By Ron Schermacher One of the difficulties that library staff experiences relates to how we market our programs to the communities we serve. Getting the word out can be tricky, an...

DATE: Apr 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: Shelf Life

We must do better on school lunch

We need to work together to stop school lunch shaming. At a Durango middle school last week, a hand-written sign in the cafeteria that troubled me said “Kiddos – partial lunch wi...

DATE: Apr 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: From the State House

Assaults on central banks will leave us naked

NEW YORK – Around the democratic world, there is a struggle taking place that might end up the most damaging and long-lasting consequence of this era of populism. Elected leaders ...

DATE: Apr 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: Fareed Zakaria

Affair that led to a long marriage remains a secret

Dear Abby: Many years ago, I had an affair with a married man. We eventually married and have had a long, happy life together. It was love at first sight for me. Both of us had children ...

DATE: Apr 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Euforquestra not afraid of challenge

The Fort Collins-based band Euforquestra wears many musical hats. Unafraid of a musical challenge and willing to experiment and change things up, if the genre hat fits, they’ll put it on and...

DATE: Apr 25, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

What happens when bigots are victims of bigotry

Spot the problem with the quoted remarks: (1) The Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 was “something some people did.” (2) Last month’s attack on two mosques in Christchurch,...

DATE: Apr 24, 2019 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Acupuncturist stuck with bill twice

Dear Abby: I am a licensed acupuncturist. One of my patients (also male) asked me to dinner, and since he seemed like a decent guy, I decided to go. After we finished and the $60 bill ar...

DATE: Apr 24, 2019 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Government can’t make us happy, David Brooks

To: David Brooks Columnist, The New York Times Dear David, We’ve met a few times over the years. I’m a big fan. You write beautifully and, more often than no...

DATE: Apr 23, 2019 | CATEGORY: David Brooks

Hunting for lake interloper isn’t a shore thing

Many, many of your constituents are still curious about the fate of the “lost hunter” who “broke into” the entrance trailer at Lake” Nighthorse last fall. Did that poor soul survive his priv...

DATE: Apr 22, 2019 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Trip loses luster when friends grow apart

Dear Abby: A close friend and I usually take a girls’ trip once a year – a long weekend at the same place. We drive there because it’s close to where we live. She has asked me again this...

DATE: Apr 22, 2019 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

New Mexico moves to protect Chaco Canyon from drilling

Anyone who has traveled the U.S. Highway 550 corridor to Albuquerque recently knows for themselves the extent of greatly expanded drilling activity. Advances in fracking technolo...

DATE: Apr 21, 2019 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

A real green deal

If it were properly focused it could wipe<br/>the smirk right off Donald Trump’s face

DATE: Apr 21, 2019 | 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