Business & Real Estate - The Durango Herald

Trending:

Trump to put import taxes on pharmaceutical drugs, kitchen cabinets, furniture and heavy trucks

President posts money needed ‘for National Security and other reasons’

Stapll Overland to hold grand opening party

Stapll Overland, Durango’s first Adventure Vehicle Outfitter, will hold a grand opening party from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at 98 Everett St., STE B, in Bodo Park. This free, family-friendly eve...

DATE: Sep 23, 2025 | CATEGORY: Business

Starbucks workers in Colorado, other states sue over company’s new dress code

Company said it simplified rules to deliver more consistent experience to customers, give its employees clearer guidance

DATE: Sep 19, 2025 | CATEGORY: Business

Shortage of homebuyers forces many sellers to lower prices or walk away as sales slump drags on

National median home listing price rose slightly in July from a year earlier to $439,450

DATE: Sep 19, 2025 | CATEGORY: Business

Caver Jewelry helps Durangoans keep a piece of home close to their chests

Main Avenue shop features local mountain ranges

DATE: Sep 18, 2025 | CATEGORY: Local News

To boost Southwest Colorado’s economy, keep dollars local

Region 9 executive director shares strategies for rural economic development

DATE: Sep 11, 2025 | CATEGORY: Business

Farmers Market: Rogue Goat Soaps made with local goat milk, beef tallow

JJ Johnson started making her products to ensure whole animal is used

DATE: Sep 10, 2025 | CATEGORY: Food

Agile Space Industries to expand operations at Durango-La Plata County Airport

Agreement expected to create new jobs, support manufacturing growth

DATE: Aug 30, 2025 | CATEGORY: Business

Erika Brown joins 4CORE as regional energy coach

The Four Corners Office for Resource Efficiency has hired Erika Brown as its new regional energy coach for the La Plata Electric Association service territory, serving primarily La Plata and...

DATE: Aug 22, 2025 | CATEGORY: Business

Comfort Keepers hires Dayna Gates as Client Success manager

Comfort Keepers has hired Dayna Gates as its new Client Success manager. Originally from north central Wyoming, she recently moved to the Southwest and brings with her more than eight years ...

DATE: Aug 15, 2025 | CATEGORY: Business

Region 9 names Audrey Royem new Economic Development coordinator

Audrey Royem has been named as Region 9’s new Economic Development coordinator. A fourth-generation Coloradan raised in the Four Corners, Royem brings a background in international developme...

DATE: Aug 15, 2025 | CATEGORY: Business

Durango Nursery’s new owners are growing plants and community

Kylie Powers and Alena Rodman hope to continue legacy of business’ founder while making company more sustainable

DATE: Aug 2, 2025 | CATEGORY: Business

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