Thank you - The Durango Herald

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

Hiker seeks good Samaritans in order to thank them

Last summer on June 23, I was taking a short hike at Ice Lake in Silverton. I took a wrong turn and ended up on a steep slope near a waterfall. Reaching a rock outcrop, I suddenly realized I...

DATE: Jun 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Cancer Coalition grateful for support

The Cancer Coalition of Southwest Colorado and the American Cancer Society Cancer Resource Center volunteers would like to thank the Florida Mesa Church Knitting and Crochet Circle for their...

DATE: Jun 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Animas High School grateful for support

The Animas High School staff and board would like to extend our gratitude to those who helped make our end-of-year events successful celebrations of our 10th year in operation. I...

DATE: Jun 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Durango Public Library Advisory Board

The Library Advisory Board of the Durango Public Library extends its appreciation to Isabel “Rosie” Gurnee for her service on the board for the past school year. Gurnee was the Y...

DATE: Jun 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Education Foundation grateful for support

Durango Education Foundation would like to thank the generous businesses and community members that made our annual 9-R Staff Appreciation celebration possible: 81301 Coffee, Albe...

DATE: Jun 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from La Plata County Historical Society

The La Plata County Historical Society would like to sincerely thank the advertisers in our 2019 “History La Plata” publication. Their support contributes to the operation and maintenance of...

DATE: Jun 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Animas High School grateful for support

Thank you from Animas High School The staff and board of directors of Animas High School would like to thank all the generous sponsors for the Spring Friend-raiser event. It was a wonderful ...

DATE: May 31, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Friends of the Arts thanks book donors, buyers

Collecting gently used books from Durango Friends of the Arts’ members and friends reaped some extra money for the Grant Fund. We thank all those who donated and bought books at ...

DATE: May 23, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Friends of the Arts Thanks Sky Ute Casino

Durango Friends of the Arts was one of the chosen nonprofits to participate in Sky Ute Casinoâ€™s Money Booth on May 16. We thank the Southern Ute Indian Tribe for their generous...

DATE: May 23, 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 Bayfield Middle Schoolâ€™s seventh grade social stu...

DATE: May 23, 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