Columnists - The Durango Herald

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

Black, female, Republican – and gone, gone, gone

From proud Republican harbinger to sad Republican castaway – that’s the story of Rep. Mia Love, who finally conceded her extraordinarily close House race Monday. It’s the story of...

DATE: Dec 2, 2018 | CATEGORY: Frank Bruni

Cutting your own Christmas tree offers memories for a lifetime

Over the past 10 years, I’ve written a couple of articles about Christmas trees and the role they play in the Parmenter family. Yes, there were years when we left our tree up wel...

DATE: Dec 2, 2018 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Meteorologists share strategies for avoiding winter travel hazards

“Never check luggage.” That’s the winter travel advice of CNBC correspondent Contessa Brewer, who, coincidentally, was emailing me from a plane en route to cover a weather disaste...

DATE: Dec 2, 2018 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

La Plata County needs your help to get this right

Since 2016, the La Plata County Board of County Commissioners has made revising the land use code a priority project so that we can bring predictability to the development process, bolster e...

DATE: Dec 1, 2018 | CATEGORY: From the Chair

Salute to city workers, local shopping

Giggles and squeals bounce off the Recreation Center walls as swimmers, families, and grandparents enjoy the waters during the holidays. Lighting the christmas tree at Buckley Par...

DATE: Dec 1, 2018 | CATEGORY: From the Mayor

This holiday, could a robot be taking your job?

This holiday season, Santa’s little helpers might come with a battery. While retailers across the country are beefing up seasonal hires to prepare for the holiday shopping apocaly...

DATE: Dec 1, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Diversion of lodgers tax makes no cents

This past week, I appeared before the City Council in a study session and expressed my concerns that the city was diverting lodgers tax revenue away from tourism marketing. I indicated that...

DATE: Dec 1, 2018 | CATEGORY: The Tourism Effect

How do we celebrate, remember and honor a life?

December feels like endings. It’s the end of the year, the end of my garden and the end of the light in the late afternoons until the winter solstice starts shifting us back. Fun...

DATE: Dec 1, 2018 | CATEGORY: Authentic Aging

Grades make teen question career

DEAR ABBY: I’m 17 and don’t know what I want to do with my life. When I was younger, I was sure I wanted to go into the field of law. It was something my parents also wanted me to do. ...

DATE: Nov 30, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Dedicated space for teens and tweens is important

Libraries throughout the country make a concerted effort to reach their local teen audience. By fostering a lifelong love of learning, reading and libraries, our young people are empowered t...

DATE: Nov 30, 2018 | CATEGORY: Shelf Life

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