Thank you - The Durango Herald

Wolfwood Refuge grateful to Brandsma Family Fund

Wolfwood Refuge wishes to thank the Brandsma Family Fund. Please accept our heartfelt appreciation for your support during these difficult times. We are also deeply grateful for ...

DATE: May 15, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

Visitor grateful to local Jack Peterson for finding ring

While visiting the area in January, I lost my Texas A&M gold class ring from 1991 over off lower Pando Creek near the Eldelweiss condos. I got the ring when I graduated in 1991 an...

DATE: May 15, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Know Your Dough

Know Your Dough, a nonprofit that provides tailored, in-person financial wellness programs for local youths, would like to thank Florida Mesa Elementary School and the fourth grade teachers,...

DATE: May 15, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you to Bill Bell

On Saturday afternoon, a truck literally blew the four-wheel drive transfer case and drivelines for a half mile down Highway 160, three miles east of Bayfield. This wonderful man named Bill ...

DATE: May 7, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

Resident grateful to crew of Bread

As kids, many of us would work hard to get a “star” on our schoolwork (well perhaps that reflects my age, but I believe in some manner we all can understand and relate). I believe that Bread...

DATE: May 7, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you to The Million Dollar Highway Saloon

Thank you for delivering the exceptional lasagnas to the laboratory at Mercy. Your efforts and thoughts are greatly appreciated during this stressful time. Stay safe and healthy. ...

DATE: May 1, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Jean Pearthree

Jean Pearthree, who turned 98 years old Wednesday, and her caregiver Maddison Mason wished to express their gratefulness for all the birthday cards and phone calls Jean has received from fri...

DATE: Apr 24, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

Know Your Dough grateful for support

Know Your Dough, a nonprofit that provides tailored, in-person financial wellness programs for local youths, would like to thank Park Elementary School and the second grade teachers, Maggie ...

DATE: Apr 23, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Know Your Dough

Know Your Dough, a nonprofit that provides tailored, in-person financial wellness programs for local youths, would like to thank Animas Valley Elementary School and second grade teachers Dan...

DATE: Apr 14, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

Local student grateful to community

My name is Kimura and I am a fifth grade student at Park Elementary School. Fifth grade classes are studying about natural disasters and human disasters and how to be safe. As we are current...

DATE: Apr 14, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Four Corners OB/GYN

To our medical assistants (Anas, Nikole, Cindy, Tosh), front office staff (Ruth, Errine, Brenda, Crystal, Katie), ultrasonographers (Tamara, Scarlett), administrator (Robin), physician assis...

DATE: Apr 14, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

Local student grateful for health care workers

Dear doctors and nurses, My name is Abby and I appreciate you so much. We are learning about natural and human disasters. Thank you so much for still working every day to save liv...

DATE: Apr 14, 2020 | CATEGORY: Community

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