Award and prize - The Durango Herald

Tailwind Nutrition selected as Colorado Company to Watch

Bayfield-based manufacturer saw sales double year after year

DATE: Jul 15, 2017 | CATEGORY: Business

Festive furniture builder named Dolores Citizen of the Year

Heeney’s artistic style and civic duty stand out

DATE: Apr 26, 2017 | CATEGORY: Business

Herald website wins Best of Show at annual awards banquet

‘I wish more websites would follow this example’

DATE: Apr 23, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

La Plata County employee wins award for emergency-management work

La Plata County Emergency Management Coordinator Tom McNamara received a state award Tuesday for his work in the past year. McNamara modestly accepted his award for Southwest Colo...

DATE: Mar 14, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Oscar nominations 2017: Complete list of nominees; ‘La La Land’s’ 14 ties all-time record

The Academy Award nominations were announced in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, kicking off the most prestigious award-show frenzy of them all. The Oscars will air Feb. 26 on ABC....

DATE: Jan 24, 2017 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

Steve Short is named Citizen of Year by Durango Chamber of Commerce

12 are honored for community service

DATE: Jan 19, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Chamber announces annual award finalists

The Durango Chamber of Commerce has announced the finalists for the annual Durango Rocks! awards. The awards honor businesses and individuals for their accomplishments and contrib...

DATE: Jan 7, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango Fire Protection District board member wins statewide award

Kathy Morris shows tireless commitment

DATE: Oct 10, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Mountain Bike Specialists tops in the nation

It celebrated as one customer after another won trophies in mountain biking, and now While it frequently rates among the top mountain bike stores in the country, 2016 is the year the store...

DATE: Sep 27, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Game of Thrones,’ ‘Veep’ take top honors at Emmys

LOS ANGELES – “Game of Thrones” conquered the Emmy kingdom Sunday, honored as top drama for the second consecutive year and becoming the most honored prime-time TV series ever on a night of ...

DATE: Sep 18, 2016 | CATEGORY: Nation & World

Durango couple receives Lifetime Achievement Award, letter from Obama

A Durango couple recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award for putting in more than 4,000 hours of community service work, warranting a letter from President Barack Obama. Ac...

DATE: Aug 30, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Cortez Police Chief Lane wins award

Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane recently was presented with the Charles K. “Pat” Steele Award from the The Steele Award is given for long-term professional and ethical contributions to law en...

DATE: Jul 1, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

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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