Thank you - The Durango Herald

Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering grateful for support

On behalf of the Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering, board members Bill Lambert and Pam Jacobs would like to thank everyone who attended the 5th annual Barn Dance and Picnic at Rotary Park on J...

DATE: Jul 4, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Botanical Society grateful for support

Thank you, Durango! The Durango Botanical Society’s Gardens on Tour held June 22 was our best ever. This event is only possible thanks to all the homeowners who graciously opened...

DATE: Jul 4, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Friends of the Arts grateful for successful show

Durango Friends of the Arts would like to thank all those involved in the performances of “box.” on June 1. Dennis Elkins, a former Fort Lewis College professor, came to town to ...

DATE: Jun 28, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Farmers Market grateful for sponsors

The Durango Farmers Market is happy to announce our 2019 sponsors that have offered their support to our local venue of fresh, healthy food. TBK Bank donates the summer venue for our market,...

DATE: Jun 25, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Know Your Dough grateful for support

The Board of Directors at Know Your Dough, a local nonprofit providing financial literacy for youths and young adults, held our fifth annual Guest Bartender Event at Red Snapper on June 12. ...

DATE: Jun 25, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Local veterans thank April’s Garden

This past Memorial Day, Colleen and crew from April’s Garden, 2075 Main Ave., stepped up without hesitation, along with one of their distributors, Lenny from Amarosa Farms in Miami, and dona...

DATE: Jun 25, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Friends of the Arts grateful for support

The once a year Pie Sale fundraiser for Durango Friends of the Arts was the most successful ever. The traditional day before Fatherâ€™s Day Pie Sale held at the Durango Farmers Market had gr...

DATE: Jun 21, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

WolfWood Rescue grateful for community support

For the first time in 25 years, WolfWood had to cancel a community event as we couldnâ€™t safely get to Purgatory with the animals in March. Purgatory generously made a donation to help us a...

DATE: Jun 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Know Your Dough grateful for support

The Board of Directors at Know Your Dough, a local nonprofit providing financial literacy for youths and young adults, would like to thank The Boys & Girls Club of La Plata County and Kyle K...

DATE: Jun 14, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Know Your Dough grateful for support

The Board of Directors at Know Your Dough, a local nonprofit providing financial literacy for youths and young adults, would like to thank Durango High Schoolâ€™s ninth grade economics teach...

DATE: Jun 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Botanical Society grateful for support of garage sale

The Durango Botanical Society recently held a garage sale at the Durango Public Library. We had an excellent turn out to support our gardens. We want to thank the library and the...

DATE: Jun 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Womenade grateful for support

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

DATE: Jun 6, 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