Newsletter - The Durango Herald

Mancos Elementary School dismissing week early

Adjustment will allow for summer construction work

DATE: May 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

City councilor demands job descriptions, evaluations for top employees

Kim Baxter says staff has so far been unable to produce key documents

DATE: May 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Music, dance classes offer creative outlet for disabled students, adults in Durango

Stillwater Music starts class for mixed abilities in elementary schools

DATE: May 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Calkins building development plans move forward

Planning and Zoning Commission OKs affordable housing on site

DATE: May 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Immigration advocate arrested on probation violation

Enrique Perez-Orozco faces extradition to Georgia related to marijuana charges

DATE: May 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango’s farmers markets about to sprout

Changes this season include new vendors and artisans, fewer markets

DATE: May 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Food

Durango man accused of killing three in crash faces June trial

Authorities say Noah DeDear was distracted while driving

DATE: May 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Fort Lewis College cycling eyes 25 at collegiate road nationals

Deep squads give Skyhawks confidence it can end Marian’s streak

DATE: May 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: College Sports

Four Corners Poets come to Mancos

Navajo women speak of identity, literature at library

DATE: May 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Dolores boating release could begin in May

High-elevation snowmelt making its way toward river

DATE: May 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango offers land for affordable senior housing

Volunteers of America poised to buy 1.62 acres in Three Springs for $10

DATE: May 7, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Fiddler plays the winning notes in Durango win at Bayfield

Demons eliminate early hole with pair of homers

DATE: May 7, 2019 | CATEGORY: High School 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