Thank you - The Durango Herald

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

Family of Ward E. Lee thanks Durango Community

The family of Ward E. Lee would like to thank you all for your heartfelt visits, cards, phone calls and sympathies. Our father’s legacy will continue to live while we live through his motto:...

DATE: Mar 15, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

WolfWood Refuge grateful for donors

We are so grateful at WolfWood Refuge for the support of the Durango Community. Colorado Gives is a wonderful organization that helps many local nonprofits, and this year was the best year e...

DATE: Jan 19, 2023 | CATEGORY: Community

WolfWood Refuge thanks those who made donations

We are so grateful at WolfWood Refuge for the support of the Durango Community. Colorado Gives is a wonderful organization that helps many local nonprofits, and this year was the best year e...

DATE: Dec 15, 2022 | CATEGORY: Community

Comfort Keepers thanks staff for commitment

Comfort Keepers would like to thank our amazing staff and recognize the longevity and commitment of many of our employees. These individuals have worked tirelessly every day to ensure all of...

DATE: Dec 9, 2022 | CATEGORY: Community

Thanks all who made Tour de Farms happen

Manna, Colorado State University Extension and Carver Brewing Co. would like to thank all the participants, farmers, staff and volunteers of the Tour de Farms agricultural bike tour and gard...

DATE: Dec 6, 2022 | CATEGORY: Community

Cancer Coalition thanks Style N’ Stones, other artists

Durango and La Plata County are blessed with a group of artists whose generosity is unmatched. Style N’ Stones and other artists joined forces at Create Art & Tea at 1015 Main Ave. on Oct. 1...

DATE: Dec 1, 2022 | CATEGORY: Community

Comfort Keepers grateful for those who provide care

This month, we’re thankful for those who provide care in our homes and communities. We would like to thank each and every home care and hospice company, caregiver and medical staff for the e...

DATE: Nov 24, 2022 | CATEGORY: Community

Mama Bea thanks all who donated

Mama Bea, Dina, Tony and Thomas wishes to thank everyone who contributed to the fundraiser and to the GoFundMe for Mama Beas medical bills. She sends all her love. God bless you all. ...

DATE: Oct 20, 2022 | CATEGORY: Community

Durango Daybreak Rotary Club thanks community

The Durango Daybreak Rotary Club would like to thank the Durango community for their generous support of our recent Chip Huntoon Memorial Food Drive on Oct. 8. All food and cash donations w...

DATE: Oct 20, 2022 | CATEGORY: Community

Women’s Resource Center grateful for donation

The Women’s Resource Center was honored to have been chosen as the 2022 Columbine Classic Duet Golf beneficiary. This annual Ladies invitational golf tournament was held July 25 to July 27 a...

DATE: Sep 22, 2022 | 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