Health - The Durango Herald

Bacteria, metals found in Animas Valley wells

Water-quality tests show variable contamination

DATE: Mar 14, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

Rookie doctors can work longer, 24-hour shifts under new rules

CHICAGO – Rookie doctors can work up to 24 hours straight under new work limits taking effect this summer – a move supporters say will enhance training and foes maintain will do just the opp...

DATE: Mar 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Even in middle age, your best running days may still be ahead of you

Elite road racers make running look effortless. While most of us appear to be in pain, their cadence and form belie any of that misery. But there’s good news, middle-of-the-pack runners, bec...

DATE: Mar 11, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Fitbit tracks your steps; now it wants to chart your Zs, too

NEW YORK – Fitbit, whose devices encourage people to walk 10,000 steps each day, now wants to put them to sleep as well. The company said data collected by the millions of Fitbit ...

DATE: Mar 10, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Bacon, soda too few nuts may kill you

CHICAGO – Gorging on bacon, skimping on nuts? These are among food habits that new research links with deaths from heart disease, strokes and diabetes. Overeating or not eating en...

DATE: Mar 7, 2017 | CATEGORY: Nation & World

Want a productive work day? Watch what you eat

Do you have days at work when you feel energetic, inspired and productive, while on other days you feel tired, busy and stressed, with almost nothing to show for your efforts at the end of t...

DATE: Mar 6, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Risk & reward: Stopping a cancer drug to see if you’re cured

Imagine you had a life-threatening cancer that a wonder drug had kept in remission for years. Would you risk quitting? Thousands of people with a blood cancer called chronic myelo...

DATE: Mar 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Those with blurry close-up vision get some new help

WASHINGTON – Squinting while texting? Always losing your reading glasses? An eye implant that takes about 10 minutes to put in place is the newest in a list of surgical repairs for the blurr...

DATE: Mar 4, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Gene therapy lets a French teen dodge sickle cell disease

A French teen who was given gene therapy for sickle cell disease more than two years ago now has enough properly working red blood cells to dodge the effects of the disorder, researchers rep...

DATE: Mar 3, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

UN sees bird flu changes but calls risk of people spread low

LONDON – The World Health Organization says it has noticed changes in the bird flu virus now spreading in China, but says the risk of the disease spreading easily between people remains low....

DATE: Mar 2, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Doctors warn against teen pot use amid looser marijuana laws

CHICAGO – An influential doctors group is beefing up warnings about marijuana’s potential harms for teens amid increasingly lax laws and attitudes on pot use. Many parents use the...

DATE: Feb 28, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

The dirty dozen: UN issues list of 12 most worrying bacteria

LONDON – The World Health Organization has issued a list of the top dozen bacteria most dangerous to humans, warning that doctors are fast running out of treatment options. In a p...

DATE: Feb 27, 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