Award and prize - The Durango Herald

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

‘Hamilton’ sweeps up awards at a sometimes somber Tonys

NEW YORK - “Hamilton,” the hip-hop stage biography of Alexander Hamilton, won the 2016 Tony Award for best new musical, capping an emotional night in which many in the Broadway community ral...

DATE: Jun 12, 2016 | CATEGORY: Nation & World

Colorado press associations honor Herald for its journalism

Staff wins 48 awards in two state contests

DATE: May 21, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango High School students shine in Nashville

They may hail from a small town, but the DECA members from Durango High School played outside their weight class at the national finals in Nashville, Tennessee, last week. Previou...

DATE: May 4, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Herald senior editor Amy Maestas named to journalism fellowship

She will study future of hyperlocal newspapers

DATE: Apr 30, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Fort Lewis College junior Ferrari Arviso crowned 37th Miss Hozhoni

After three weeks of pageant events, Ferrari Arviso was named the 37th Miss Hozhoni late Saturday. Her crowning was part of the 52nd annual Hozhoni Days Powwow at Fort Lewis Colle...

DATE: Apr 17, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Fort Lewis College films win gold medals

Fort Lewis College is selling its science programs with finesse, bringing home two gold awards in the 2015 Collegiate Advertising Awards. The college’s Marketing and Communication...

DATE: Mar 9, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Women’s Resource Center names award winners

The Women’s Resource Center has announced the winners for its annual Extraordinary Women Awards. An award’s luncheon will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the Durango DoubleTree, 501 Camino del ...

DATE: Mar 1, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

As protests swirl, Oscars have feel of high-stakes showdown

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Hollywood is bracing for an Academy Awards that more than any in recent memory, has the feel of a high-stakes showdown. After a second straight year of all-whi...

DATE: Feb 28, 2016 | CATEGORY: Nation & World

Fort Lewis College professor part of Grammy-winning recording

Ginger part of 2 groups receiving nominations

DATE: Feb 15, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Dolores rancher named Cattleman of the Year

Vernon “Bud” Walker Jr. was named Cattleman of the Year by the Southwestern Colorado Livestock Association at the group’s annual banquet. Walker has dedicated his life to ranching...

DATE: Feb 14, 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