Columnists - The Durango Herald

Glass recyclers are in the clear with open containers

I was taking my glass to the recycling station. On the way, it occurred to me that there were several beer and alcohol bottles in the mix. Having an open container in the car is illegal in m...

DATE: Jul 30, 2018 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Wife’s travel spoiled by man

DEAR ABBY: I have been married to my husband for 38 years. We both had long professional careers and saved diligently for our retirement. Our children are on their own and doing well wit...

DATE: Jul 30, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

On ICE, aka ‘La Migra’

ICE is handy if you want a cold drink, not so much if you’re driving on the highway or if you are from another country. ICE, of course, stands for U.S. Immigration and Customs En...

DATE: Jul 29, 2018 | CATEGORY: Watch Yore Topknot

Our food system isn’t broken, but the farm bill is

When I hear someone say “our food system is broken,” it stings. I think about my mom, who has farmed my whole life, and about my friends and the countless other farmers and ranchers who work...

DATE: Jul 29, 2018 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

After a year in Spain, there is so much I’ll miss

Where does a year go? It is true that as one gets older, time moves faster. I know that for our kids, our year in Spain feels like an eternity. Our youngest is trying to remind he...

DATE: Jul 29, 2018 | CATEGORY: An American in Spain

The mystery of the missing hotel trash cans

What happened to all the trash cans? They’re disappearing from some hotel rooms lately. Guests such as Jon Martin want to know why. “There seem to be fewer and fewer trash cans in...

DATE: Jul 29, 2018 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Wife overlooks husband’s conspiracies

DEAR ABBY: When I was dating my husband, I gave him a lot of leeway. When he told me he listened to a radio show that is known for unscientific views, I ignored it because I found him so...

DATE: Jul 29, 2018 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Breast milk is the best food for infants, plain and simple

Next week is World Breastfeeding Week. This topic has never been more timely than it is today. Scientific research continues to show a positive relationship between breastfeeding and infant ...

DATE: Jul 28, 2018 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Fire didn’t destroy economy nor dampen spirit

Last week, I reported to the Durango City Council on the “State of Tourism” in light of the 416 Fire. Here is a summary of that report: Tourism comprises 25 percent of our economy...

DATE: Jul 28, 2018 | CATEGORY: The Tourism Effect

Stepping aside to let siblings build their relationship

The thought comes to me like a message from a burning bush, from someplace beyond my mind’s usual mundane chatter. Col is in Washington, D.C., with his grandma. Rose is inside re...

DATE: Jul 28, 2018 | CATEGORY: Adventures in Motherhood

La Plata County gardeners to display bounty at county fair

Editor’s note: Get Growing, written by the La Plata County Extension Office’s Master Gardener Program, appears during the growing season. It features timely tips and suggestions for your...

DATE: Jul 28, 2018 | CATEGORY: Get Growing

Teen-dad relationship gets uncomfortable

DEAR ABBY: My dad has never really been in the picture. He just pops back in and out whenever he wishes and leaves when things get too hard. He has never had a job or a home since he wal...

DATE: Jul 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