Columnists - The Durango Herald

Don’t believe anti-wolf hype – let science guide us

At first blush, the topic of restoring wolves to the wild spaces of western Colorado appears to pit those who trust in modern science against those who believe the only truth out there is wh...

DATE: Feb 12, 2019 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

The subnivean world is a busy, important place for ecosystem health

One of my favorite things about work is the office banter that occurs when our educators plan lessons for our education and after-school programs. Last week, the education team w...

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

Forget beaver jokes, Canada is leader world needs

After the Canadian foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, tweeted concern about Saudi Arabia’s imprisoning of a women’s rights activist, the crown prince there seemed to go nuts. Sa...

DATE: Feb 11, 2019 | CATEGORY: Nicholas Kristof

Light at Elmore’s Corner has a dark backstory

The traffic light at Elmore’s Corner (I call it “El No-mores”) has got to go. Drive east on “the 160” and all the lights seem to be timed. Through Bodo – green. WallyWorld – zip-a-dee-doo. H...

DATE: Feb 11, 2019 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Discovery forces confession of affair

DEAR ABBY: Ten years ago, I had an affair with a married man that resulted in a pregnancy and then a miscarriage. I was also married at the time. Pathology testing revealed that the chil...

DATE: Feb 11, 2019 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Let’s clear up some confusion over sex ed bill

There has been lots of conversation on House Bill 19-1032, Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education. I have been asked, why in the world would you sponsor such a bill? The answer i...

DATE: Feb 9, 2019 | CATEGORY: From the State House

Not the best of all possible worlds – but close

NEW YORK – This year’s World Economic Forum, more than usual, prompted a spirited round of elite-bashing, which has now become the trendy political posture on both right and left. ...

DATE: Feb 9, 2019 | CATEGORY: Fareed Zakaria

The Trump Doctrine

On foreign policy, like it or not, this administration is exceeding expectations

DATE: Feb 9, 2019 | CATEGORY: Ross Douthat

County needs to surmount big challenges

The beginning of the year is always a time of high activity and change at La Plata County, and 2019 is delivering large doses of both. In January, we said goodbye to County Manage...

DATE: Feb 9, 2019 | CATEGORY: From the Chair

Positive change is on the horizon

Please join Visit Durango in welcoming tourism industry executive Barbara Bowman as interim executive director. Barb brings a wealth of industry expertise to Durango from 27 years leading to...

DATE: Feb 9, 2019 | CATEGORY: The Tourism Effect

A Mesa Verde plate: New tags would help support national park

Instead of fake news, how about real news? Instead of political posturing and name calling, how about a project to unite us as a region and a state? How about a Mesa Verde National Park lice...

DATE: Feb 9, 2019 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Find Perseus, the classic Greek hero in the night sky

Greetings, Stargazers. There are lots of bright stars and constellations in a clear winter sky, but somehow, I haven’t written a column about the constellation Perseus. Maybe tha...

DATE: Feb 9, 2019 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

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