Thank you - The Durango Herald

Vallecito Slash Depot grateful to community

The summer, Vallecito Slash Depot has concluded another season with continued participation from Vallecito residents as they perform fire mitigation on their properties. As a volunteer for ...

DATE: Sep 10, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from humane society

La Plata County Humane Society would like to sincerely thank all who attended the community concert in the Secret Garden on Aug. 25 and throughout the month of August in support of it, Wolfw...

DATE: Sep 10, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community

VFW Post 4031 grateful for donations

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4031 would like to sincerely thank the employees of The Payroll Department for selecting us as a “Meet Your Match” grant recipient of 2021. We are halfway to ou...

DATE: Sep 7, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from the O’Neills

It is with a heavy heart I write this letter. After 49 years, my wife Lynn and I, and family have left Durango! We have moved to Florida and western North Carolina. Unfortunately, we leave ...

DATE: Sep 7, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Project Linus

Project Linus of the Durango and Cortez area would like to thank the La Plata County 4-H Adventure Day Camp members for choosing us as the recipient of their community outreach project. Twe...

DATE: Jul 31, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community

Hillcrest Women’s Golf Association grateful to community, donors

Hillcrest Women’s Golf Association would like to thank donors and community partners involved in the Chili Pepper Golf Tournament. Thanks for the golf course donations: Black Canyon Golf, B...

DATE: Jul 31, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community

Hillcrest Women’s Golf Association grateful to donors

Hillcrest Women’s Golf Association extends a warm thank you to the businesses and individuals who donated to this year’s annual Chili Pepper Golf Tournament held July 12 and 13 at Hillcrest ...

DATE: Jul 23, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community

Club grateful for successful fundraiser

Rotary Club of Durango most sincerely thanks all the patrons of our 16th annual Fourth of July All-American Gourmet Breakfast, sponsors, donors and many volunteers for a successful fundraise...

DATE: Jul 23, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community

Rotarians thank volunteers, donors

Rotary clubs grateful for support

DATE: Jul 16, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from Lebs family

We want to express a heartfelt thank you to all of the personnel, the pilots, the ground crews, law enforcement and the mop-up crews who responded and worked on the recent Vosburg Pike Fire...

DATE: Jul 9, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community

Thank you from the Lucero family

The family of Elizabeth Lucero would like to thank everyone who was there for us. Thank you for the Masses offered, the flowers, the food and all the help to us with everything. God Bless y...

DATE: Jul 9, 2021 | CATEGORY: Community

Comfort Keepers grateful to local CNAs

Thank you to all the CNAs in our communities who provide direct care to peopple who need assistance. Your services are invaluable to those you serve. This last year has been especially hard...

DATE: Jun 18, 2021 | 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