Newsletter - The Durango Herald

Trump shrank a Utah monument for coal, but few care to dig

ESCALANTE, Utah – On the eastern end of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, narrow slot canyons shoot through the rocks in shades of terra-cotta red and pale peach. To the west stan...

DATE: Jan 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Southwest Life

Trump’s Cuba policy hurts private sector, report says

HAVANA – President Donald Trump’s Cuba policy is driving millions of dollars from the island’s private entrepreneurs to its state-run tourism sector, the opposite of its supposed goal, accor...

DATE: Jan 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Travel

Hotels sweat the details of workouts for guests

It wasn’t the price or the points or the location that most influenced Ruth Furman to book a stay at the Holiday Inn Express Waikiki in Honolulu last summer. It was the yoga. Namely, the fre...

DATE: Jan 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Travel

Durango plans to add small spur to Animas River Trail

Hotel developer will pay for construction

DATE: Jan 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Boatwright block, Semadeni spin send Fort Lewis College past Colorado Mesa University

FLC goes 2-0 in home rivalry weekend to get into tournament hunt

DATE: Jan 19, 2019 | CATEGORY: College Sports

Women’s march draws hundreds on Main Avenue

The ‘women’s wave’ swept over town on Saturday

DATE: Jan 19, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango fourth-grader dispels myths about diabetes

The disease is on the rise nationally

DATE: Jan 19, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

In Iceland, police say foreign drivers court trouble looking for Northern Lights

AKUREYRI, Iceland – Police in Iceland have a warning for visitors: Beware our roads in the winter. Spending a clear winter night under an Arctic sky lit up by spectacular streaks ...

DATE: Jan 19, 2019 | CATEGORY: Travel

Women strive for larger roles in male-dominated religions

Women have been elected heads of national governments on six continents. They have flown into space, served in elite combat units and won every category of Nobel Prize. The global #MeToo mov...

DATE: Jan 19, 2019 | CATEGORY: Religion

Weekly planner for Jan. 21-25

For more information and agendas about city meetings, visit Tuesday La Plata County Board of County Commissioners meeting, 10 a.m., County Administration Building, 1101 East Second Ave....

DATE: Jan 19, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango girls commit 42 turnovers in loss to Grand Junction Central

Euro-step wins it for Warriors

DATE: Jan 18, 2019 | CATEGORY: High School Sports

Durango cruises in wire-to-wire win against Grand Junction Central

The Durango High School boys basketball team knows the magic number its needs to reach if its going to pull out a win: 40 points. Head coach Alan Batiste said it during the three-...

DATE: Jan 18, 2019 | CATEGORY: High School Sports

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