Columnists - The Durango Herald

What I want for Christmas

I’m no different from my friends. I’d love to open the paper on Christmas day and see that world peace had broken out, hunger was now gone and that the United States now had political partie...

DATE: Dec 7, 2018 | CATEGORY: Flies & Lies

The real China challenge: managing its decline

In 2009, The Economist wrote about an up-and-coming global power: Brazil. Its economy, the magazine suggested, would soon overtake that of France or the U.K. as the world’s fifth ...

DATE: Dec 7, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Divorcing mom grateful for new friend

DEAR ABBY: A year ago my 13-year marriage fell apart. My husband, “Rick,” will be spending the next six years in prison. I am 32 and have two boys, ages 13 and 15. The last ...

DATE: Dec 7, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Transgender man hasn’t told parents

DEAR ABBY: I’m a transgender male who has grown up in an area where many people discourage such things. They view what I am as a sin and me as a sinful, satanic child. My parents are aga...

DATE: Dec 7, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Kids add music and drama to winter season

Underneath the commercial frenzy of the holiday season, a series of music and dramatic performances by the young people of our area have quietly proceeded. Last weekend, the thre...

DATE: Dec 6, 2018 | CATEGORY: Culture Gulch

H.W. Bush and the maddening wars over his legacy

On Twitter over the weekend, the television writer Bryan Behar did something unconscionable. He praised George H.W. Bush. The former president had just died. In Behar’s...

DATE: Dec 6, 2018 | CATEGORY: Frank Bruni

Normal life eludes victim of abuse

DEAR ABBY: I am a 53-year-old woman who is a sexual abuse survivor. This has consumed every aspect of my life. It started when I was around 2, I believe, and was a daily occurrence until...

DATE: Dec 4, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

The 2020 presidential field – oh, we have names

Until now, there were, by my count, 44 Democrats who have either expressed interest in a 2020 presidential run, traveled to Iowa or New Hampshire or otherwise managed to get themselves menti...

DATE: Dec 4, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dana Milbank

By posting, USPS put its stamp on social media

I noticed these signs at the local Post Office. I can’t help but wonder why anyone would follow the U.S. Post Office on social media. Facebook? Instagram? What’s next, following the IRS on T...

DATE: Dec 3, 2018 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Cory Gardner had his big chance – and blew it

Last week, the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate actually stood up to President Donald Trump on America’s role Yemen. In a 63-37 vote, 14 Republicans stood with 49 Democrats to pa...

DATE: Dec 3, 2018 | CATEGORY: Mike Littwin

Could letters from a medical examiner curb the opioid crisis?

There’s plenty of blame to go around for the opioid crisis. Drug traffickers, greedy pharmaceutical companies and inadequate treatment centers contribute. So do the prescribing practices of ...

DATE: Dec 3, 2018 | CATEGORY: Coroner's Report

Parents cancel holiday dinners

DEAR ABBY: The holiday season is here, with the traditional family dinner get-togethers. Our problem is, our two children (ages 27 and 29) don’t like each other and rarely have contact d...

DATE: Dec 3, 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