Music - The Durango Herald

San Juan Symphony launches 40th season

World premiere plus ‘Pines of Rome’ fill out program in Durango, Farmington

DATE: Oct 1, 2025 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

FLC Faculty Showcase plays the colors of music

Performance takes place Sunday at Fort Lewis College

DATE: Sep 25, 2025 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

The Gourds’ Jimmy Smith returns to Durango

KDUR and Jimmy’s Main Room to host iconic musician’s solo show

DATE: Sep 18, 2025 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

Durango, you ready to rock?

Get The Led Out coming to Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College

DATE: Sep 11, 2025 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

Jazzy movie music Friday

Unitarian Universalist launches 2025-26 series

DATE: Sep 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

Community members pay tribute to Kirk James

Musician, artist left an indelible mark on residents of the area

DATE: Sep 4, 2025 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

A lucky coincidence: Oberlin music faculty performs in the Four Corners

Musicians to play in Durango and Farmington this weekend

DATE: Sep 3, 2025 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

Video: Impromptu piano lesson at the library

DATE: Aug 26, 2025 | CATEGORY: Local News

Local music legend Kirk James dies at age 61

A talented musician, James was also known for custom pinstriping and art

DATE: Aug 21, 2025 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

Taylor Swift announces 12th studio album, ‘The Life of a Showgirl,’ shares release date

NEW YORK – Taylor Swift has announced her 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl.” It will arrive Oct. 3, she revealed Wednesday. Swift, Max Martin and Shellback are the credited produce...

DATE: Aug 14, 2025 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

Firefall, Orleans ready to rock Durango

Bands to headline Friday at the Fair

DATE: Aug 7, 2025 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

Ryan Speedo Green triumphs in first outing as Wagner’s god in ‘Die Walküre’

Santa Fe Opera House stages show through Aug. 21

DATE: Aug 6, 2025 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

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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