Newsletter - The Durango Herald

Trail runner recounts life-or-death fight with mountain lion

FORT COLLINS – When a young mountain lion clamped its jaws onto Travis Kauffman’s wrist and clawed at his face, he screamed a “barbarian yell,” jammed his foot onto the animal’s neck and hel...

DATE: Feb 15, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Political committees formed to push, oppose Durango tax question

Voters being asked to approve a half-cent sales tax rise in April

DATE: Feb 15, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango home catches fire early Friday

Blaze causes about $3,000 in damage

DATE: Feb 15, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Two backcountry skiers rescued on Coal Bank Pass

Man, woman became disoriented in storm, spent night in high country

DATE: Feb 15, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Death Café provides venue to discuss a taboo subject

Discussion group meets at Bayfield library

DATE: Feb 15, 2019 | CATEGORY: Pine River Times news

Photos: Rachel Bauer named valedictorian

DATE: Feb 15, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Best bets this weekend in and around Durango

Best bets this weekend include the Silverton Skijoring competition and Purple XPerience – A Tribute to Prince concert at Sky Ute Casino. The Silverton Skijoring competition return...

DATE: Feb 15, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Use of loud brakes at Kinder Morgan well gets county review

Brakes needed for safety, but are a nuisance for residents

DATE: Feb 15, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Heavy snowstorm creates hazardous road conditions

Coal Bank, Molas, Red Mountain passes closed Thursday night

DATE: Feb 14, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango High School wrestlers gear up for regionals

Demons looking to peak at the right time

DATE: Feb 14, 2019 | CATEGORY: High School Sports

Ignacio girls firm frontrunners for district title

Bobcats haven’t lost to a SJBL team since Feb. 2017

DATE: Feb 14, 2019 | CATEGORY: Pine River Times sports

Have you been keeping up with local headlines? Test your knowledge in Quiz No. 6

About 80 people participated in last week’s quiz. Participants scored highest on a question about what the Durango-La Plata County Airport plans to purchase for $3.9 million, with...

DATE: Feb 14, 2019 | 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