Columnists - The Durango Herald

Jury is in: La Plata’s ‘phrag’ won’t be sentenced

Dear Action Line: Can you identify this plant (see attached photos please)? I’m guessing it’s some kind of pampas grass. This grass is so pompous that it’s spreading like crazy along U.S...

DATE: Sep 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Fall fly fishing: What fly should I use?

It depends on what you want to catch

DATE: Sep 8, 2024 | CATEGORY: Sports

Husbands feel out of place dancing at clubs

DEAR ABBY: I'm married, and in my mid-40s. My wife and I have a robust social life, for which we both feel very lucky and blessed. We have amazing friends who are a wonderful support system ...

DATE: Sep 7, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Man prefers to rely on his ex-wife

DEAR ABBY: I’ve been seeing “Pete” for eight months. He has been divorced for the last 15 years. He has two grown children and five grandchildren with his ex-wife, “Linda,” who is still a si...

DATE: Sep 7, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

This may really be the most important election of your lifetime. Too bad your vote doesn’t count

As you may have heard, the upcoming presidential election is the most important in our lifetime. They say that every four years, of course. But this time, it’s probably true. I mean, if both...

DATE: Sep 7, 2024 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

University of Colorado regents’ resolution on ‘intifada’ undermines free speech and inclusivity

In the dystopian novel “1984,” George Orwell depicts a regime that manipulates language to control thought. By eliminating language of dissent and rebellion, this regime replaces plain langu...

DATE: Sep 7, 2024 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Vasectomy motivators are ‘Realizing Quality Families’

I was walking down the street in Mountain View, California, when I noticed a man coming toward me wearing a white T-shirt with small black lettering: “SEEDLESS.” I wonder if he was advertisi...

DATE: Sep 7, 2024 | CATEGORY: Population Matters

A tilted axis is the reason for earth’s seasons

Greetings, stargazers. The most interesting thing in the sky for me last month was seeing the most intense hailstorm with the largest hail I have seen since moving to Durango over twenty-fiv...

DATE: Sep 6, 2024 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Better worlds start with great families: Nurse-Family Partnership

The birth of a first child can lead to many questions for new parents: How will my life change? Who will help me? Can I afford this? Can I do this? Nurse-Family Partnership is a community he...

DATE: Sep 6, 2024 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

If you must justify making dessert ...

If there’s ever a time to justify dessert, it’s now. No need to conjure up justifications on your own. This month, I’m treating you to a handful of high-quality retorts for the dessert naysa...

DATE: Sep 6, 2024 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Lindsay Lou believes in the work

Lindsay Lou is not afraid to work. The Michigan-born and now Nashville-based singer-songwriter, who you’d file under the catchall genre of Americana as she digs into twangy pop, bluegrass an...

DATE: Sep 4, 2024 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Man suddenly smitten with woman

DEAR ABBY: I have been around “Kendra” since she was 4. I am 59 and not married to her mother, although we are good friends. Kendra is 36 now and has an 8-year-old son. She lives with her bo...

DATE: Sep 3, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

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