Columnists - The Durango Herald

Shovel your hovel? Some folks flake out after storm

I know this is a yearly request, but last week’s storm demonstrated Durango’s utter cluelessness when it comes to snow, inability to drive notwithstanding. Could you please once again inform...

DATE: Dec 31, 2018 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Trump finally found conspiracy he doesn’t believe

WASHINGTON – So President Trump finally found a conspiracy theory he doesn’t believe. “Are you still a believer in Santa?” Trump asked an unsuspecting 7-year-old, Collman Lloyd, w...

DATE: Dec 31, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dana Milbank

Readers describe their best, worst trips of 2018

Bob Tupper’s summer vacation in Bologna, Italy, was his best trip of the year. It included a visit to the famous markets in the Quadrilatero district, touring the oldest university in the we...

DATE: Dec 30, 2018 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

How Coloradans scored breakthrough on hemp

In 2013, I received a call from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asking me, as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, to support a pilot program to allow farmers to grow hemp. Knowing ...

DATE: Dec 29, 2018 | CATEGORY: From the U.S. Senate

No one deserves citizenship

On what moral grounds can we deny others rights, privileges and opportunities that we did not earn ourselves?

DATE: Dec 29, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

We’re unable to take your call, we’re dysfunctional

WASHINGTON – Calls to the White House switchboard during this Christmas holiday are greeted by the following message: “We apologize, but due to the lapse in federal funding we are...

DATE: Dec 29, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dana Milbank

Here’s the money advice I’d leave to my grandkids

We are living in the gig economy. Many of us work part time or on projects, provide a service or own a small business. Each of these is temporary, but they shape who we are. Writing Money Sa...

DATE: Dec 29, 2018 | CATEGORY: Money Savvy

Looking for adventure? Try winter backpacking

Many outdoor enthusiasts in Southwest Colorado aren’t kept inside by cold weather. As the old adage goes: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.” Undoubtedly, there are fo...

DATE: Dec 28, 2018 | CATEGORY: Stewards of the Land

Husband takes expenses to extremes

DEAR ABBY: I have been married for seven years and have two young boys. My husband, “Cliff,” and I earn approximately the same amount and contribute equally to our household expenses. ...

DATE: Dec 28, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

There are many ways to give back to the place you call home

I will soon celebrate my six-year anniversary at United Way of Southwest Colorado. As expected, the work has been challenging and rewarding. Often, people thank me for the work I...

DATE: Dec 28, 2018 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

Trump is bad for Israel – and the entire Mideast

Suppose you’re the type of smart conservative reluctantly inclined to give Donald Trump a pass for his boorish behavior and ideological heresies because you like the way the economy is going...

DATE: Dec 28, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Unromantic man irks his girlfriend

DEAR ABBY: I am 25 and have been with my boyfriend on and off for five years. I love him very much. I often overthink things, and a constant frustration of mine is that he makes no roman...

DATE: Dec 28, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

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