Columnists - The Durango Herald

GA-20 plays the punky-blues

Every band has different methods for how they create and debut new songs. Some bands may have a member write individually, then bring the work in progress to other band members to add their ...

DATE: Jun 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Osprey supports ‘protections for Dolores River Canyons’

Since 1974, Osprey has provided hikers, backpackers, bikers and everyday travelers with innovative and long-lasting carry solutions, each thoughtfully designed to reflect a passion for explo...

DATE: Jun 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

‘Beneficial fire helps restore ecological balance, understory, pollinator diversity’

Last month’s Spruce Creek Wildfire on Haycamp Mesa was a promising example of a new era of wildfire management. The Spruce Creek Fire started by lighting ignition May 14 in an area that was ...

DATE: Jun 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Young relative always on hunt for cash, gifts

DEAR ABBY: My stepdaughter has an 11-year-old daughter I’ll call “Kristina.” Kristina is very well-behaved, but she’s being taught at home that love is measured in dollars. She is constantly...

DATE: Jun 18, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Friendship is still appreciated

DEAR ABBY: As a lonely, mixed-up teenager in the 1980s, I developed a huge crush on a disc jockey at a local radio station. I would call him at least once a night when he was on the air, and...

DATE: Jun 18, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Birds disappearing, or just looking for tastier meal?

Dear Action Line: Every spring we set out food for the local bird population. In past years, the redwings, doves, hummers, siskins, finches, magpies, et al. have mobbed the deck. The man...

DATE: Jun 17, 2024 | CATEGORY: Action Line

‘Without red-flashing lights, motorists come too close to a bike’

Before moving to Durango a few years ago, I had done a number of road-bike tours in California, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota. Some wonderful rides and most without Colorado’s mount...

DATE: Jun 16, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Father’s Day: ‘Show young men what it means to be a healthy man’

June is Men’s Health Month and also Father’s Day. These observances are an opportunity to open up conversations about the connection between physical and mental well-being. As part of overal...

DATE: Jun 16, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Village at Wolf Creek Staggers Onward

The long-dormant Village at Wolf Creek development staggered back to life recently, with a favorable court ruling obtained by the Forest Service to approve a road access permit across the Ri...

DATE: Jun 16, 2024 | CATEGORY: Thinking Green

Aging couple considers move

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I are contemplating moving across the country to be near our daughters. We have lived in our home for 45 years. We are both active and in very good health, but unli...

DATE: Jun 14, 2024 | CATEGORY: Dear Abby

Women’s sports in spotlight ‘only 52 years after Title IX’

Girls and Women’s sport is having a moment. Attendance records are being set. New stars are emerging. Participation is up. And it’s only 52 years after Title IX, the federal civil rights law...

DATE: Jun 14, 2024 | CATEGORY: Opinion

The play’s the thing

The 10-minute play phenomenon has swept the country. Last week, if festivals in Durango and Albuquerque prove anything, the short-form theatrical evening is here to stay. The Durango Arts Ce...

DATE: Jun 13, 2024 | CATEGORY: Culture Gulch

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