Columnists - The Durango Herald

Language apps help travelers – up to a point

My parents moved from New Jersey to Passau, Germany, when I was a toddler. After a few weeks of playing with the neighborhood kids, I spoke fluent, Bavarian-accented German. That’...

DATE: Dec 23, 2018 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Do not equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism

In a recent interview with The Intercept, Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan Democrat who in November became the first Palestinian-American elected to Congress, went public with her support for the...

DATE: Dec 22, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Can panel control population?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has done wonders by motivating individuals and nations to take action to slow climate change. What could happen if the United ...

DATE: Dec 22, 2018 | CATEGORY: Population Matters

The new farm bill is a success for every one of us

It didn’t appear in many front-page headlines, but Congress just passed a five-year, $867 billion piece of legislation in a bipartisan, landslide vote. In today’s political climat...

DATE: Dec 22, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Quilt may bring back sad memories

DEAR ABBY: Several years ago, my daughter got pregnant. She and her husband were overjoyed, as was I. Being a quilter, I immediately made a baby play quilt. However, before I could send ...

DATE: Dec 21, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism

It’s a call for the elimination of a state and all its Jewish people

DATE: Dec 21, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

An antidote to idiocy in new Churchill biography

Earlier this year, retired astronaut Scott Kelly posted a harmless tweet quoting Winston Churchill’s famous line, “In victory, magnanimity.” Left-wing Twitter went berserk, and Ke...

DATE: Dec 20, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Sparks fail to fly for single mother

DEAR ABBY: I have a close friend who is in her mid-30s. She’s a wonderful, divorced, hardworking Christian mother of four who has finally ventured back to the dating scene. She’s current...

DATE: Dec 18, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Shutting down government is a sham, not a game

I’ve been thinking about government shutdowns. The most recent threat to stop public services is about funding the expansion of the border wall with Mexico. But shutting the gover...

DATE: Dec 18, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Now’s the time for action to restore national parks

As Congress makes its way through the lame duck session, several hot button issues await action. Important legislation will be considered over the next two weeks that, if passed, ...

DATE: Dec 17, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Free downtown parking, for a limited time only

Could you clarify the city’s loading-zone policy? A meter reader told me that the city changed its policy a year ago. The “Commercial Loading” signs no longer apply, but will be left there. ...

DATE: Dec 17, 2018 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Affair earns sister’s disapproval

DEAR ABBY: My sister has been having an affair with a married man. When I asked if he was going to leave his wife, she said no, and it was fine with her. She claims his wife is fat and t...

DATE: Dec 17, 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