Thank you - The Durango Herald

Rotary Club of Durango grateful for support

The Rotary Club of Durango Daybreak would like to sincerely thank the Durango community for their generous support of our recent Chip Huntoon Memorial Food Drive on Oct. 12. All food and cas...

DATE: Oct 31, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango angel on the Animas River Trail

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the female doctor that assisted my husband and I when he had an e-bike accident on the Animas River Trail on Aug. 17. I really wish I had gotte...

DATE: Aug 30, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you to person who returned wallet

On Friday, July 19, my son lost his wallet when unbeknownst it fell out of his pocket in Durango. When he realized it, we returned to town and retraced his steps in hopes of finding it but h...

DATE: Aug 16, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

Couple grateful for help with flat tire

DATE: Aug 16, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you, sponsors of Rotary All-American 4th of July Breakfast

The Rotary Clubs of Durango: Daybreak and Evening are so grateful for the wonderful turnout of breakfast customers and for the generosity of sponsors. This fundraising event is honored to be...

DATE: Aug 8, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

Family grateful for support

The family of Candace Christine Wilson-Murphy (7/3/1976-5/7/2024) wishes to thank each of you for her care, the lovely cards, flowers, food and caring thoughts. Deeply appreciated and gratef...

DATE: Jun 28, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

Concert on Durango Mesa a success

On May 26, the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, Durango Mesa Park and KSUT Public Radio partnered to bring Michael Franti & Spearhead to Durango Mesa. This first large-scale con...

DATE: Jun 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

Durangoan appreciates neighbors’ help

I would like to thank my wonderful neighbors on Wood Haven Way in Durango West I for helping to keep my drive, walk and deck clear of the snow. Without your help, I would not have been able ...

DATE: Jun 5, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

Animas High School grateful for community support

Since 2009, AHS has delivered rigorous college and career preparation through project-based learning in a small school environment. While we’ve always infused our curriculum with experientia...

DATE: May 29, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

Garden Club of Durango Plant Sale a success

Thank you, Durango, for supporting the Garden Club of Durango. Because of generous people in the community attending, our yearly plant sale was very successful. We extend special appreciat...

DATE: May 22, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

End of an era: General Hairstore closing

First, thank you to the community of Durango. We want to thank all the generations of families that passed through our doors and our hearts for over four decades. We are grateful for the yea...

DATE: May 21, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

Family grateful for friends’ support

The family of Priscilla Hays would like to thank all the wonderful people who came to her memorial celebration and honored her through their stories, laughter and tears. Priscilla wanted her...

DATE: Apr 19, 2024 | CATEGORY: Community

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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