Health - The Durango Herald

No longer the hot new thing? Teen vaping falls, study says

NEW YORK – Teen vaping, which has been skyrocketing, fell dramatically last year in the United States. A government survey released Thursday suggests the number of high school and...

DATE: Jun 23, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Few opioid-addicted youth get standard treatment medication

CHICAGO – Only 1 in 4 teens and young adults with opioid addiction receive recommended treatment medication despite having good health insurance, according to a study that suggests doctors a...

DATE: Jun 22, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Flu vaccine ineffective for people 65 and older last winter

NEW YORK – The flu vaccine did a poor job protecting older Americans against the illness last winter, even though the vaccine was well-matched to the flu bugs going around. U.S. h...

DATE: Jun 21, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Shootings kill or injure at least 19 U.S. children each day

CHICAGO – Shootings kill or injure at least 19 U.S. children each day, with boys, teenagers and blacks most at risk, according to a government study that paints a bleak portrait of persisten...

DATE: Jun 20, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Drones carrying defibrillators could aid heart emergencies

CHICAGO – It sounds futuristic: drones carrying heart defibrillators swooping in to help bystanders revive people stricken by cardiac arrest. Researchers tested the idea and found...

DATE: Jun 14, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Obesity rising in nations rich and poor, especially in kids

NEW YORK – The global obesity problem now affects 1 in 10 people in the world, it is rising in countries rich and poor, and in many countries it is increasing faster in children than adults,...

DATE: Jun 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

FDA asks drugmaker to stop selling its opioid painkiller

TRENTON, N.J. – U.S. regulators want a narcotic painkiller involved in the opioid epidemic off the market amid data showing people continue to abuse it. The Food and Drug Administ...

DATE: Jun 10, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Feeling out of shape and fat? Here’s how to fix that: Start walking.

Diana Nyad – the endurance athlete who, at age 64, swam from Cuba to Florida – has another big dream. It doesn’t involve water, poisonous jellyfish or an exhausting 111-mile journey that too...

DATE: Jun 9, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Quickly reporting cancer complications may boost survival

CHICAGO – If you’re being treated for cancer, speak up about any side effects. A study that had patients use home computers to report symptoms like nausea and fatigue surprisingly improved s...

DATE: Jun 8, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Julia Hawkins started running at 100. Now she’s going for the gold

It was a hot and muggy afternoon when Julia Hawkins headed out for a practice sprint on the street in front her house. She steeled her gaze on the 50-meter mark on the far end of ...

DATE: Jun 7, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Drugs score big wins against lung, prostate, breast cancers

CHICAGO – Drugs are scoring big wins against common cancers, setting new standards for how to treat many prostate, breast and lung tumors. There’s even a “uni-drug” that may fight many forms...

DATE: Jun 6, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Poor posture at work? It’s time to straighten up

Forward head, slumping shoulders, tilted pelvis. Sound like the Hunchback of Notre Dame in 15th-century Paris? Maybe, or just your average Joe and Jane glued to their cellphones a...

DATE: May 31, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

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