Thank you - The Durango Herald

Neighbors In Need Alliance grateful to Durango community

Neighbors In Need Alliance and the homeless would like to thank the Durango community for their generous donations of camping equipment and clothes provided Nov. 23 at St. Marks Church. ...

DATE: Dec 19, 2019 | 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 Miller Middle School and the seventh grade teachers, Scott Da...

DATE: Dec 19, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Accolades for concert in the pines

Durango Friends of the Arts wishes to thank the very talented Marilyn Garst, who opened up her home Nov. 20 for a private classical music concert to benefit DFAâ€™s Grant Fund, which has bee...

DATE: Dec 19, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Know Your Dough grateful for teachers, sponsor

Know Your Dough, a nonprofit that provides tailored, in-person financial wellness programs for local youths, would like to thank Bayfield Middle School and the seventh grade teachers, Taylor...

DATE: Dec 13, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

DFA appreciates creative class

World-renowned master saddle makers and leather artists, Lisa and Loren Skyhorse of Lake Durango, honored Durango Friends of the Arts with teaching a class in designing leather cuffs. ...

DATE: Dec 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

DIMBC thanks DHS band sponsors

Durango Instrumental Music Booster Club would like to thank the following corporate sponsors for their support of the 2019/2020 Durango High School Instrumental Music Program: Jimmy’s Music ...

DATE: Dec 5, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

LPCHS thanks Primus Restaurant and the Community Foundation serving SW Colorado

La Plata County Humane Society would like to extend a very sincere thank you to Primus Restaurant and the Community Foundation Serving Southwest Colorado for being selected as the recipient ...

DATE: Dec 5, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango’s Community Relations Commission grateful for those who have taken the Civility First Durango Pledge

The city of Durango’s Community Relations Commission would like to thank all businesses, organizations and individuals who have taken the Civility First Durango Pledge and committed to model...

DATE: Dec 5, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Womenade

The Womenade Council would like to extend sincere thanks to our donors whose generosity provided one-time emergency financial grants to 10 women at our November fundraiser. The funds collect...

DATE: Nov 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

DFA’s ‘Spooktacular’ a howling success

Durango Friends of the Arts held their annual FUNdraiser for their Grant Fund at Dalton the day before Halloween and treated their Grant Fund to some good income. Attendees enjoy...

DATE: Nov 21, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from the Cianci family

The family of the late June Cianci wishes to express their deep appreciation to those who have offered such kindness, support and messages of sympathy and comfort in our bereavement. ...

DATE: Nov 21, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Friends of the Arts grateful to Toh-Atin Gallery

Durango Friends of the Arts would like to thank Toh-Atin Gallery in Durango for hosting the Nov. 14 membership meeting. After a short business meeting, DFA members enjoyed a rive...

DATE: Nov 21, 2019 | 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