Columnists - The Durango Herald

Learning about the Milky Way

Greetings, stargazers. The Milky Way is a barred-spiral galaxy about 100,000 light years in diameter, but only about 1,000 light years thick. It contains more than 100 billion stars, and som...

DATE: Jul 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: What's up in Durango Skies

Our schools are shabby here, across the nation

Have you ever cleaned your home’s carpets and been shocked by the gunk that comes out? Now, imagine hundreds of little shoes stomping on the same school hallway carpet, year after year. Try...

DATE: Jul 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: Columnists

Your dog is talking, are you listening?

Humans often rely on verbal communication, but to truly understand our dogs, we must learn to interpret their nonverbal cues. Dogs communicate their thoughts and emotions through body langua...

DATE: Jul 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: From the Humane Society

Troubling memories about dad haunt daughter

DEAR ABBY: When I was young and even as I grew older, my father touched me inappropriately. It made me uncomfortable even as an adult. I feel like when I was very small, something more may h...

DATE: Jul 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Beware of ‘effort to gut our public school system’

As Shane Voss appropriately noted in The Durango Herald and The Journal on June 28, state politicians continue to propose legislation that threatens public education. Even high-performing ch...

DATE: Jul 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

‘Hypocrites pretend to love neighbor next to them in pew’

The devils of despotism have come out of the closet in America. We now know that many Americans have only been pretending to love representative government, always referring with pride to “o...

DATE: Jul 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Music in the Mountains presents ‘Satchmo Scattin’ & Swingin’’

Music is a gift. If presented well, it’s one of the greatest gifts you can receive, and the Music in the Mountains Festival offers musical perfection. Currently underway, this local and annu...

DATE: Jul 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Affordable, convenient, available parking downtown this summer

The headline for this article sounds like a fairy tale, right? I am here to tell you that it is not, there are good parking options downtown, even in the busy summer months. For locals who w...

DATE: Jul 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: What's Up Downtown

‘What does our money say about us?’

Any nation’s money says something about that nation. For one, a nation’s currency is broadly linked with its economic policy. As an example, the Polish government redenominated its currency ...

DATE: Jul 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Guides offer tips from ‘trips that did not go well’

What fun: You’re going on a guided outdoor trip. As you get ready, here are some tips from actual guides about what to expect, as these patient men and women have experienced a few trips tha...

DATE: Jul 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Son feels like the only adult

DEAR ABBY: I’ve been having an issue lately involving my mother. It feels like she isn’t really my “mother” but someone who thinks we’re best friends. It’s like she never really grew out of ...

DATE: Jul 16, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Co-worker weighs wisdom of being side piece

DEAR ABBY: I met this guy at work. He was everything I’m looking for in a guy. During a lunch walk, he told me about his breakup with his ex and how he moved out and bought a house. He lives...

DATE: Jul 16, 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