Navajo Nation - The Durango Herald

Navajo Nation reports 74 new COVID-19 cases, 1 new death

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The Navajo Nation on Friday reported 74 new COVID-19 cases and one additional death. The latest numbers pushed the Navajo Nation’s total to 32,784 cases since the pandem...

DATE: Sep 4, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Navajo Nation reports 55 new COVID-19 cases, 2 more deaths

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The Navajo Nation on Thursday reported 55 new COVID-19 cases and two additional deaths. The latest numbers pushed the Navajo Nation’s total to 32,707 cases since the pan...

DATE: Sep 2, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Navajo Nation reports 49 new COVID-19 cases and 1 more death

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The Navajo Nation on Wednesday reported 49 new COVID-19 cases and one additional death. It was the tribe’s first reported coronavirus-related fatality in the last four d...

DATE: Sep 2, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Navajo Nation reports no COVID-related deaths for 3rd day

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The Navajo Nation on Tuesday reported 54 new COVID-19 cases, but no additional deaths for the third consecutive day. The latest numbers pushed the tribe’s total to 32,6...

DATE: Sep 1, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

36 Navajo Nation communities have uncontrolled COVID-19 spread

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The Navajo Nation on Monday reported 17 new COVID-19 cases, but no additional deaths for the second consecutive day. The latest numbers pushed the tribe’s total to 32,5...

DATE: Aug 31, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Navajo Nation reports 38 new COVID-19 cases, no new deaths

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The Navajo Nation reported 38 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Friday and no new deaths. Tribal President Jonathan Nez said the daily increase in cases is in line w...

DATE: Aug 27, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Navajo Nation reports 55 new COVID-19 cases and 1 more death

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The Navajo Nation on Thursday reported 55 new COVID-19 cases and one more death. The latest numbers pushed the tribe’s totals to 32,430 coronavirus cases and 1,400 known...

DATE: Aug 26, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Navajo Nation reports 37 new COVID-19 cases and 1 more death

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – The Navajo Nation on Tuesday reported 37 new COVID-19 cases and one more death. The latest numbers pushed the tribe’s totals to 32,315 coronavirus cases and 1,398 known ...

DATE: Aug 24, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

School on Navajo Nation to stay remote after radon exposure

RED VALLEY, Ariz. – A return to in-person classes at a Navajo Nation school will be on hold indefinitely because of unknown radiation levels, likely caused by decades of uranium mining. Cod...

DATE: Aug 17, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Navajo Nation reports 67 more COVID-19 cases, 1 new death

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation officials say the tribe continues to see a surge in new coronavirus cases and on Friday reported 67 new cases and one additional death. Health officials o...

DATE: Aug 13, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Public health emergency orders on Navajo Nation for COVID-19

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation officials say the tribe will return to “Orange Status” starting Monday because of a recent rise of COVID-19 cases. On Thursday, the Navajo Department of He...

DATE: Aug 13, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Free tuition this spring for some students at tribal college

TSAILE, Ariz. – A four-year tribal college located on the Navajo Nation is offering free tuition for the spring 2022 semester to all students who are enrolled full time this fall and receive...

DATE: Aug 12, 2021 | CATEGORY: Regional News

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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