Alcohol - The Durango Herald

Special South African gin is infused with elephant dung

MOSSEL BAY, South Africa – The makers of a South African gin infused with elephant dung swear their use of the animal’s excrement is no gimmick. The creators of Indlovu Gin, Les a...

DATE: Nov 17, 2019 | CATEGORY: Food

La Plata County seeks volunteers to tell DUI stories

More people needed to speak on victim-impact panel

DATE: Nov 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Ska Brewing, Peach Street to open ‘brewstillery’ in Boulder

New licensing would allow liquor sales at Bodo Park headquarters

DATE: Nov 7, 2019 | CATEGORY: Business

La Plata County sees fewer deaths by suicide

Prevention efforts have made progress since 2017, official says

DATE: Nov 2, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Alcohol is ‘No. 1 drug of choice’ in Durango, according to Mercy hospital

More than 1,000 visits to ER last year were drinking-related

DATE: Oct 28, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Is your tequila jeopardizing Mexico?

Experts say new equipment threatens quality, laborers, ecology

DATE: Oct 22, 2019 | CATEGORY: Food

Medicaid expanding to cover inpatient, residential addiction treatment

20 La Plata County deaths this year involved drugs or alcohol

DATE: Sep 30, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Judge orders Anheuser-Busch to halt ‘corn syrup’ labels

Big beer is still duking it out over corn syrup. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Anheuser-Busch to stop using Bud Light packaging that implies rival brews made by MillerCoors...

DATE: Sep 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Business

Pedestrian injured in Durango by passing train

Man taken to Mercy for treatment

DATE: Jun 24, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Atapiño liqueur combines pinion nuts and ponderosa pines

Several Durango bars feature Santa Fe product in cocktails

DATE: May 29, 2019 | CATEGORY: Food

Farmington eyes banning miniature liquor bottles

ALBUQUERQUE – A northwestern New Mexico city is examining if it can ban the sale of miniature liquor bottles littering the grounds across town. Farmington Mayor Nate Duckett recen...

DATE: May 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Farmers Market Profile: Fenceline Cider bottles sense of place into beverages

Fruits for fermentation harvested from historic orchards

DATE: May 21, 2019 | CATEGORY: Food

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Photos: Durango High School boys golf competes at stateDemons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Demons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

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