Thank you - The Durango Herald

Thank you from Marianne Spencer Pearlman

Thank you to the kind drivers who waited for me to park my old Jeep in front of 9-R on a recent Thursday morning. (Right during rush hour!) I will avoid tight spots like that in the future. ...

DATE: Mar 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Los Pinos Fire Protection District Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of the Los Pinos Fire Protection District would like to express our sincere appreciation for the support and trust of our communities and the constituents that live wi...

DATE: Mar 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Leadership La Plata

What a great day of learning about education in La Plata County! On behalf of Leadership La Plata, we want to thank those who contributed to the success of the education class held on Feb. 8...

DATE: Mar 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Lauren Patterson

Thanks to all who came out on the snowy roads and sidewalks for the 10th annual Diversity Dialogue with a big shout out to all the youths who came to attend – your participation is recognize...

DATE: Mar 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Know Your Dough

Know Your Dough, a nonprofit that provides tailored, in-person financial wellness programs for local youths, would like to thank Riverview Elementary School and the second-grade teachers, Em...

DATE: Mar 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Jerry and Shirley Lehl

We want to thank everyone for all of your love, compassion, hugs, prayers, cards and everything else you have done for us on our journey with Debra. Thank you, also, for your mem...

DATE: Mar 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Gordon and Marcia Clouser

Good Samaritans live on. Lucky were we heading to town on Junction Creek Road early one recent Sunday morning, following an encounter with two county snowplows coming toward us. We moved ove...

DATE: Mar 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Knights of Columbus

The Knights of Columbus Council 1408 would like to thank all of the donors who supported us for our Valentine Sweetheart Dance Silent Auction. We appreciate your continued support. ...

DATE: Mar 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Big Brothers Big Sisters

I wanted to send a big “shout out” to Purgatory Ski Resort and the community who attended for supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters during the Community Benefit Day. Purgatory has been a part ...

DATE: Mar 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Friends of the Arts grateful for support

Durango Friends of the Arts thanks Nancy Macho for opening her beautiful home to DFA members for the event, “Playing With Words” on Feb. 13. Macho served a delicious brunch of ve...

DATE: Mar 1, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Botanical Society thanks outgoing executive director

The Board of Directors, docents and Durango Botanical Society members thank Cindy Smart as she retires as executive director of the DBS. Her tireless work has left a legacy of public gardens...

DATE: Feb 22, 2019 | CATEGORY: Community

La Plata Open Space Conservancy thankful for another successful Snowdown fundraiser

La Plata Open Space Conservancy extends tremendous gratitude to everyone who helped make our 25th annual Snowdown Craft Spirits, Wine Tasting & Silent Auction a tremendous success. ...

DATE: Feb 22, 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