Thank you - The Durango Herald

Thank you from Comfort Keepers

Comfort Keepers of Durango would like to thank San Juan Basin Health Department for sponsoring our all staff meeting and bringing to our attention the valuable preventative screenings availa...

DATE: Aug 23, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Schaff family grateful to the Harper family and D&SNG staff

The M. Sterling Schaff family would like to express our gratitude to the Harper family and the D&SNG staff for the memorial ride for M. Sterling Schaff on June 24. Thank you for ...

DATE: Aug 23, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Friends of the Arts grateful for support

On July 31, two dozen members of Durango Friends of the Arts and their friends gathered at the home of Mary and Tom Orsini to raise income for Durango Friends of the Arts’ Grant Fund. The mo...

DATE: Aug 23, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Womenade grateful for donors

The Womenade Council would like to thank the generosity of the donors during our July fundraising event at the Rochester Hotel. Because of their support, eight people in our community receiv...

DATE: Aug 13, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Team Rubicon grateful for volunteers

Team Rubicon, a veteran-led disaster response organization, has wrapped up its wildfire and flood mitigation operations in La Plata County. The three-day operation started June 26 and was a ...

DATE: Aug 13, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Hillcrest Women’s Golf Association grateful to sponsors

A “big shout out” from the Hillcrest Women’s Golf Association to the Durango community, tournament sponsors, hole sponsors, businesses and individuals throughout Colorado, New Mexico and Uta...

DATE: Aug 13, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Mountain Studies Institute

Thank you, The concept of having our community participate and see what goes into restoration and the makings of a healthy forest is vital to our community, and we credit Mary Monroe Brown...

DATE: Aug 13, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Know Your Dough grateful for grant from High Noon Rotary Club

Know Your Dough, a nonprofit that provides tailored, in-person financial wellness programs for local youths, is grateful to have received a donation from the High Noon Rotary Club. ...

DATE: Aug 13, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Hillcrest Women’s Golf Association grateful to donors

The Hillcrest Women’s Golf Association would like to express its thanks to donors that supported the 2019 Hillcrest Chili Pepper Tournament. Thanks for the golf course donations...

DATE: Aug 13, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Know Your Dough grateful for donations

Know Your Dough, a nonprofit that provides tailored, in-person financial wellness programs for local youths, thanks all our sponsors and guests for a very successful Guest Bartender fundrais...

DATE: Aug 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Southwest Colorado Canyons Alliance grateful for grants

Southwest Colorado Canyons Alliance is overjoyed to accept grants from both the Conservation Lands Foundation and Walmart Giving. CLF provides financial resources to support orga...

DATE: Aug 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Wiebe family grateful for community support

The Wiebe family would like to publicly thank everyone for their outpouring of love and support during this difficult time. The meals and desserts have all been so delicious and helpful, the...

DATE: Jul 30, 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

Photos: Ride with the Champions bike parade

Photos: Changing colors

Photos: Fort Lewis College Volleyball sweeps Black Hills StateSkyhawks off to best start since 2006

Skyhawks off to best start since 2006

Photos: Durango High School football takes on Piedra Vista High SchoolDemons’ defense dominates in 17-0 victory on Friday night

Demons’ defense dominates in 17-0 victory on Friday night

Skyhawks beat Lubbock Christian 2-1 in season opener on Thursday

Photos: Four Corners Motorcycle RallyLots of motorcycles and tattoos were on display on Saturday

Lots of motorcycles and tattoos were on display on Saturday

Photos: Four Corners Motorcycle Rally Rodeo

Photos: Durango High School football opens its seasonDemons lost 35-14 to Montrose at home on Friday night

Demons lost 35-14 to Montrose at home on Friday night