Columnists - The Durango Herald

City left holding the bag when trash cans don’t open

During a walk with my sister, I proudly pooped on the sidewalk. My human owner bagged it and looked for a trash can. He discovered the trash can (see photo) with nine bags of poop on top. Be...

DATE: Feb 25, 2019 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Water just might cure what ails you

Let me ask you something. What is your relationship with water? Suppose I told you that water is fundamental to human health – perhaps in ways you do not yet recognize or acknowle...

DATE: Feb 25, 2019 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Woman wants men to look deeper

DEAR ABBY: I have been reading your advice and your mother’s for decades. I am an attractive 65-year-old woman. I have no problem meeting men. I have been told numerous times I look 20 y...

DATE: Feb 25, 2019 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Are biometrics the answer for airport security?

From impossibly long lines to intrusive searches by humorless agents, today’s airport screening process is a hassle for many flyers. But the screenings of tomorrow could be unlike...

DATE: Feb 23, 2019 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

The Vatican’s gay overlords

New book opens closets but could fuel fires

DATE: Feb 23, 2019 | CATEGORY: Frank Bruni

Fight over-population denial

I first met people who denied the population problem in 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development. They supported their claim that there was no population...

DATE: Feb 23, 2019 | CATEGORY: Population Matters

Let’s get Creative with our outdoors

It’s the penultimate day of a 30-day trip as I sit here and write this column. My bare toes are pushing through a sandy beach at Surprise Canyon on the Grand Canyon. As Durangoan...

DATE: Feb 23, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local First

Family members struggle to reunite

DEAR ABBY: A year ago, my sister “Jan” started dating this guy, “Miles,” who soon moved in with her. Everyone in our family was welcoming until she started telling us their problems. We ...

DATE: Feb 22, 2019 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Time for new city funding to keep the paint fresh

Last November our ballots contained several asks for tax hikes, both local and state. In Durango, Ballot Question 2A combined property and sales tax increases to fund fire and res...

DATE: Feb 22, 2019 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Afrobeatniks release new album ‘Wontanara’

Musicians get bitten by the bug. That bug being one particular genre or style that soon takes over, and from that point forward your musical trajectory goes in the direction of whatever genr...

DATE: Feb 21, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Anti-Semitism is like cancer in the Islamic world

NEW YORK – In recent weeks, attention has focused on two freshman Democratic members of Congress, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, both of whom are Muslim and have made critical statements abou...

DATE: Feb 21, 2019 | CATEGORY: Fareed Zakaria

Five immunity boosters to add to your diet

Sometimes in the winter it feels like coughing, scratchy throats and runny noses are just a part of daily life. I don’t give financial advice, but my goal is to share how the foods you eat ...

DATE: Feb 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Healing Nutrition

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