Golf - The Durango Herald

Daniel Berger buries eagle putt on 18 to win at Pebble Beach

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — For all the stunning views at Pebble Beach that can be so soothing, Daniel Berger couldn’t escape the tension when he arrived at the final hole Sunday in the AT&T Pebb...

DATE: Feb 16, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

Brooks Koepka eagles 17, rallies to win Phoenix Open

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — At the lowest points in an 18-month struggle with left knee and hip injuries, Brooks Koepka wondered if he’d ever be back at all, let alone recapture the magic that carri...

DATE: Feb 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

53-year-old Steve Stricker one shot back in Phoenix Open

Schauffele has the lead at TPC Scottsdale

DATE: Feb 5, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

Out of this world: Alan Shepard put golf on moon 50 years ago

Fifty years later, it remains the most impressive bunker shot in the history of golf, mainly because of the location. The moon. Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard and his...

DATE: Feb 5, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

Matthew NeSmith, Mark Hubbard share Phoenix Open lead

Fans return in small numbers at TPC Scottsdale

DATE: Feb 4, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

After rules controversy, Patrick Reed wins at Torrey Pines

SAN DIEGO — Patrick Reed was so unaffected by a rules controversy a day earlier that he won the Farmers Insurance Open by five shots, the biggest margin in his nine career PGA Tour victories...

DATE: Feb 2, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

Southern Hills to replace Trump National for 2022 PGA

PGA Championship goes to a country club in Oklahoma

DATE: Jan 26, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

Justin Thomas to go on training program after anti-gay slur

Justin Thomas intends to go through an individual training program to “become a better person” after he was picked up uttering a homophobic slur under his breath when he missed a putt at a t...

DATE: Jan 20, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

Tiger Woods on the shelf after a fifth back surgery

No timetable for return ahead of 2021 Masters

DATE: Jan 19, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

LIVINGSTON: Dreaming of a major golf tournament at Piñon Hills Golf Course

A major golf championship in the Four Corners? One can dream. One did dream earlier this week. Following the riot Jan. 6 at the U.S Capitol by a mob in support of outgoing Preside...

DATE: Jan 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

Hawaii’s Sony Open a fresh start for many golfers

HONOLULU – For the 31 players at the Sony Open who took the 30-minute flight over from Maui, the decision to play was easy. They’re already in Hawaii, guaranteed a tropical climate and the c...

DATE: Jan 13, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

Masters plans for a limited spectators in April

Some volume is returning to the Masters, just maybe not the head-turning roars. Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley said Tuesday the club intends to allow a limited number of sp...

DATE: Jan 12, 2021 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

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