Thank you - The Durango Herald

Thank you from Durango Public Library Advisory Board

The Library Advisory Board of the Durango Public Library appreciates a generous donation from Dean Brookie, city councilor and council liaison to the LAB, to the board’s Library Community Ch...

DATE: Oct 31, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Bayfield Heritage Days and Sheep Trailing grateful for community support

The 20th anniversary Bayfield Heritage Days and Sheep Trailing on Sept. 27-28 was a great success. The Friday night dinner with the Bar-D Wranglers was a sell-out fundraiser for the Pine Riv...

DATE: Oct 31, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Pickleball Open grateful to donors and sponsors

The 2019 Durango Pickleball Open took place Sept. 21 and 22. The tournament was co-hosted by Southwest Colorado Pickleball Association and Durango High School. The tournament was a great suc...

DATE: Oct 31, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Cross country parent thankful for support

Privileged to assistant coach the Durango Middle School Cross Country Team to an awesome season (the Girls Team went undefeated in all five meets – Aztec, Bayfield, Pagosa, Mancos and Cortez...

DATE: Oct 31, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Millwood Junction Restaurant

Millwood Junction Restaurant in Mancos sold Sept. 30. The Riffel family would like to extend a sincere thank you to our patrons throughout the local communities of the Four Corners. Without ...

DATE: Oct 31, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Farmers Market grateful for supporters

As our 2019 season winds down, the Durango Farmers Market would like to thank the thousands of customers who joined us each Saturday down at the TBK Bank parking lot for food, friends and fu...

DATE: Oct 31, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Friends of the Arts thanks sponsors and supporters

The Durango Friends of the Arts held its second annual “Prospecting for the Arts” fall fundraiser Sept. 27. Thanks to many generous donations for the silent auction, corporate an...

DATE: Oct 18, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Know Your Dough receives Token Tuesday donation

Know Your Dough, a nonprofit that provides tailored, in-person financial wellness programs for local youths, was latest the recipient of Ska Brewing Co.â€™s Token Tuesday donation. ...

DATE: Oct 18, 2019 | CATEGORY: Business

Thank you from Wolfwood

Our heartfelt appreciation to Edward Aldrich, Sorrell Sky Gallery, Karen Littfin, Bryce Pettit, Bernd Wolf, Monique Holiday, Manna soup kitchen, Star Liquor, Liquor World, Wildcat Canyon Liq...

DATE: Oct 18, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Womenade

The September Womenade fundraiser was successful because of the generosity of the donors. Their donations provided funds to help eight community members with unexpected financial ...

DATE: Oct 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Absmeier Trucking

On Sept. 24, we were heading down the mountain in cattle trucks, 13 miles above Dolores. In meeting a few cars, we moved over, my front truck/trailer caved off the shoulder taking the traile...

DATE: Oct 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Pickleball tournament grateful for support

I wanted to thank all of the people and sponsors responsible for a great pickleball sporting event that was held in Durango on Sept. 21 and 22. The Southwest Colorado Pickleball Association ...

DATE: Oct 8, 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