Travel and commuting - The Durango Herald

Cruise ship passengers recall deaths, confusion, quarantine

SAN FRANCISCO – The last vacation Margrit and Lucio Gonzalez took together began with an ominous delay: a medical emergency on the cruise ship they were set to board. After a four...

DATE: Mar 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Travel

At Dubai airport, travelers’ eyes become their passports

Iris-scanner verifies travelers’ identities

DATE: Mar 8, 2021 | CATEGORY: Travel

Airline IT provider hacked, frequent flyer data breached

BOSTON – The hack of a company that manages ticket-processing and frequent-flyer data for major global airlines – including Star Alliance and OneWorld members – has compromised the personal ...

DATE: Mar 5, 2021 | CATEGORY: Travel

Vaccination ‘passports’ may open society, but inequity looms

TEL AVIV, Israel – Violet light bathed the club stage as 300 people, masked and socially distanced, erupted in gentle applause. For the first time since the pandemic began, Israeli musician ...

DATE: Feb 26, 2021 | CATEGORY: Travel

U.S. Highway 550 realignment on track for spring 2023 completion, officials say

Project expected to ramp up this summer, but public should not be impacted

DATE: Feb 24, 2021 | CATEGORY: Local News

Mickey’s flashy dress, glowing castle mark Disney World 50th

ORLANDO, Fla. – Walt Disney World in Florida turns 50 in October. To help celebrate, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse will be wearing flashier threads and iconic structures such as t...

DATE: Feb 19, 2021 | CATEGORY: Travel

Head-on crash reported on Red Mountain Pass

Driver lost control of vehicle in icy, snowy conditions

DATE: Feb 18, 2021 | CATEGORY: Local News

Viral Vegas: Deaths jump, tourism slumps amid long pandemic

LAS VEGAS – Six weeks ago, thousands of New Year’s revelers gathered beneath the neon-lit marquees on the Las Vegas Strip – even though the big annual fireworks show was called off due to th...

DATE: Feb 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Travel

Italy won’t open its ski slopes because of virus fears

ROME – The Italian government on Sunday abruptly delayed opening Italy’s beloved ski season because a coronavirus variant was detected in a good portion of recently infected persons in the c...

DATE: Feb 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Travel

Around the globe, virus cancels spring travel for millions

FRANKFURT, Germany – They are the annual journeys of late winter and early spring: Factory workers in China heading home for the Lunar New Year; American college students going on road trips...

DATE: Feb 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Travel

Red Mountain Pass reopens after avalanche mitigation work

21-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 550 was closed for several hours

DATE: Feb 4, 2021 | CATEGORY: Local News

Pompeii’s museum comes back to life to display amazing finds

Museum comes back to life to display Roman world frozen in time

DATE: Feb 1, 2021 | CATEGORY: Travel

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Photos: Durango High School boys golf competes at stateDemons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Demons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Photos: Cowboy Gathering Social and Parade

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