Durango Fire Protection District

Falls by senior citizens a growing problem in La Plata County

Falls by elderly No. 1 injury cause in Southwest Colorado

DATE: Jul 13, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

Hermosa Trail hiker assisted by search-and-rescue

According to the emergency scanner, a rescue was requested about 4:45 p.m. Sunday for someone who was injured about three miles up Hermosa Creek Trail. Butch Knowlton, director of...

DATE: Jul 12, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

Lane on Main closed for 45 minutes

Durango Fire responded after smoke seen

DATE: Jul 8, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

An arrest made in car, gun threat

A vehicle crash led to a gun threat Tuesday evening. The incident began near Miller Middle School. The first driver, identified as Michael Fender, 49, was westbound on Junction St...

DATE: Jul 7, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

Cemetery fire being investigated

The Durango fire marshal is investigating a blaze that started early Sunday morning at Greenmount Cemetery. Firefighters responded about 5:30 a.m. Sunday, but they were unable to ...

DATE: Jul 6, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

Woman rescued from Animas River

Runner pulled her to safety

DATE: Jul 2, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango Fire reminds us to please participate legally

Durango officials encourage viewing of public display on the Fourth

DATE: Jul 1, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango Fire hires new chief

The Durango Fire Protection District Board chose a new fire chief to succeed Dan Noonan: Deputy Chief Hal Doughty. Doughty, who served in the Air Force as a military firefighter f...

DATE: Jul 1, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

Cause still undetermined in rafting death

Coroner: It will be determined by laboratory work

DATE: Jun 17, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

Rafter dies after a flip in Smelter Rapid

Man was identified as Jose Soto, 56, of Farmington

DATE: Jun 16, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

Rafters: Wear your life jackets

DATE: Jun 9, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

Fire district volunteers crucial, hard to find

Durango Fire leans heavily on them; rural districts lose help

DATE: Jun 5, 2015 | CATEGORY: Local News

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