Columnists - The Durango Herald

Small rewards push us to the top, big rewards keep us climbing

Not a cloud in the sky. The mountain air delivered a gentle, but cool breeze to counter the midsummer heat enveloping everything and everyone at lower elevations. You couldn’t ask for a bett...

DATE: Jul 12, 2024 | CATEGORY: From the Extension Office

Everyone should be able to enjoy outdoor recreation

It’s summer in Colorado. For many Coloradans, this means taking to the great outdoors to enjoy our beautiful state. While limited number of trails are wheelchair accessible, the vast majorit...

DATE: Jul 12, 2024 | CATEGORY: Creating Community

‘Professional cornhole? Really?’ With cheaters too

I have long thought that sport and art can be prophetic for society. With the introduction of mixed martial arts and Ultimate fighting in American sport, I was worried for the state of our s...

DATE: Jul 12, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

‘Professional cornhole? Really? With cheaters too

I have long thought that sport and art can be prophetic for society. With the introduction of mixed martial arts and Ultimate fighting in American sport, I was worried for the state of our s...

DATE: Jul 12, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Include contingencies in your recreation plans

Ahhh, summer in the San Juan Mountains. I’ve lived all over the country, and there really is no better place to be in the summer. San Juan Mountains Association’s Forest Ambassadors can atte...

DATE: Jul 10, 2024 | CATEGORY: Stewards of the Land

‘Ballot not way to manage wildlife’

The previous Colorado Parks and Wildlife commissioners were very circumspect about the wolf issue. It is not surprising that the proposal to intentionally release wolves was formerly rebuffe...

DATE: Jul 10, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Town halls for Dem ticket: ‘Think the Super Bowl with Taylor Swift in stands’

Mark my words: Joe Biden is going to be out of the 2024 presidential race. Whether he is ready to admit it or not. His pleas to congressional Democrats for support will not unite the party b...

DATE: Jul 10, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Elder Grown goes back to summer camp

Members of local band Elder Grown are moving on to bigger scenes. They aren’t leaving the band, but they are looking for larger music communities. One of those members is saxophone player Sa...

DATE: Jul 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Handsy male friends thumb noses at fiance

DEAR ABBY: My fiancee has a number of male friends she has known for years. One of them stops off at her work, brings food and gifts, and may go out with her after hours. Another called her ...

DATE: Jul 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Ditch the evening snacks to sleep better and feel your best

Do you know that feeling? The one where you’ve finished a healthy dinner and then thought to yourself, “I need a snack.” Then, before you know it, the entire bag of chips or carton of ice cr...

DATE: Jul 9, 2024 | CATEGORY: Healing Nutrition

Wannabe Denver TV viewers seem ‘Designated’ to suffer

Dear Action Line: Any news why we’ve lost Denver TV again? Both the Fox (KDVR 31) and ABC (KMGH 17) affiliates are gone from DirecTV offerings. So sad. It seems like so many people worke...

DATE: Jul 8, 2024 | CATEGORY: Action Line

SetSetSet, or hook setting, is last part of landing fish

Six years ago, I looked it up, I wrote a column about setting the hook when fly fishing. I need to remind myself every time I’m on the water how to correctly set a hook, I thought maybe you ...

DATE: Jul 7, 2024 | CATEGORY: Sports

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