Newsletter - The Durango Herald

Colorado health insurance rates may go up 27 percent next year

Uncertainty about Affordable Care Act driving changes

DATE: Jul 14, 2017 | CATEGORY: Regional News

Hardrock 100 start line a victory for Canadian trail runner Adam Campbell after near-fatal accident

Less than a year ago, he broke his back and hip

DATE: Jul 14, 2017 | CATEGORY: Professional Sports

Taking in Shakespeare and opera

Utah, Santa Fe next stops on summer road trip

DATE: Jul 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Performing Arts

Photos: An upgrade for Hermosa Meadows Road

Improvement work on Hermosa Meadows Road to bring it up to La Plata County standards is underway with an August completion date. ...

DATE: Jul 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Weather will play role in 2017 Hardrock 100

Rain, lightning awaits runners in San Juans

DATE: Jul 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Sports

Voter confidentiality requests in La Plata County nearly triple since July 1

DENVER – Enrollment in Colorado’s confidential voter program has nearly tripled in La Plata County since Secretary of State Wayne Williams announced Colorado would provide some publicly avai...

DATE: Jul 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Commission accepting comments about county judge candidates

Nine apply for post being vacated by La Plata County Court Judge Martha Minot

DATE: Jul 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Colorado produce calendars show what’s fresh, when

The Colorado Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association is encouraging shoppers to look for CFVGA’s colorful produce calendar when shopping at City Markets, Sprouts Farmers Market and King Sooper...

DATE: Jul 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Food

Cortez man suspected of peeping into women’s bathroom pleads guilty

Hernando Tsosie, 39, will be sentenced Sept. 19

DATE: Jul 12, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Former Bayfield man dies in camper explosion

A former Bayfield resident died Monday after a propane explosion in his camper in Zeeland, North Dakota. Bert Jerry Monger, Jr. died later in the hospital of burn and injuries suf...

DATE: Jul 12, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Monsoons on their way after dangerously dry June

Just 0.01 of an inch of rain fell during the entire month

DATE: Jul 12, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Animas Grange talk to cover role of pollinators in gardens

Presentation to discuss role of bugs, birds and bats in growing food

DATE: Jul 12, 2017 | CATEGORY: Food

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