Thank you - The Durango Herald

Santistevan family grateful for support

The family of Tony J. Santistevan would like to thank the following people in helping us send our patriarch on his forever journey: The volunteers, nurses and doctors at the Mercy Hospice Ho...

DATE: Oct 13, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango cyclist thanks those who helped after crash

I want to thank the many people who stopped to help me Wednesday afternoon when I crashed my bike near the railroad tracks/library. Thank you to the woman who put a tourniquet on my thigh ab...

DATE: Sep 15, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

Cancer Coalition SWCO grateful for support

The Cancer Coalition of Southwest Colorado would like to thank all those who participated in the 2023 “Rally for the Cure” sponsored by the Dalton Ranch Women’s Golf Association. Special tha...

DATE: Sep 8, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

Animas Museum thanks Gable House Bed and Breakfast

The Animas Museum would like to thank Tracie Trotter and Charles Goodman of the Gable House Bed and Breakfast for hosting the Ice Cream Social benefiting the museum. It was a beautiful afte...

DATE: Aug 24, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you for waving flag

I don’t know exactly why you are sitting on a bench by the side of the road waving the American flag, but thank you. When I drive by in a hurry to get to where I’m going, thinking about my l...

DATE: Aug 10, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

Rotary Club of Durango thanks all who supported the 4th of July Breakfast

The Rotary Club of Durango: Evening and the Rotary Club of Durango: Daybreak thank all those sponsors of our Fourth of July Gourmet Breakfast and the more than 1,100 people who attended the ...

DATE: Jul 21, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

Ulshafer family thanks Boys & Girls Club

Our family would like to thank the entire staff of the Boys & Girls Club of La Plata County for being so awesome. We also would like to share with everyone what a blessing the Boys & Girls C...

DATE: Jun 30, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

Thanks to Flight For Life, medical staff

I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the volunteers and paid staff of Flight For Life Durango and the E.R. staff at Mercy Medical. Thank you, Joe, for your absolute professionalism, focus...

DATE: Jun 30, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

Barn Dance coordinator grateful for support

On behalf of the Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering, I would like to thank everyone who attended our ninth annual Outdoor Concert and Barn Dance on June 11 at the gorgeous River Bend Ranch. Sp...

DATE: Jun 15, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

President of Anschutz Family Foundation thanks Durango

Congratulations to Durango and Southwest Colorado for hosting a very successful Southwest Colorado Rural Philanthropy Days event. On behalf of the Anschutz Family Foundation, I wish to expre...

DATE: Jun 15, 2023 | CATEGORY: Thank You Letters

Thank you to Rich Barker for lumber donation

The Board of the Durango Wildlife Museum and Colorado Parks and Wildlife wish to thank Mr. Rich Barker of Builder’s First Source for donating all of the cedar lumber needed to make 20 Blue B...

DATE: Jun 8, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

Four Corners Backcountry Horsemen grateful for support

Four Corners Backcountry Horsemen wish to acknowledge the generosity of the local companies that contributed to our 2023 Tack and Equipment Sale. Thank you to Rocky Mountain Chocolate, Coca...

DATE: Apr 20, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

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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