Health - The Durango Herald

‘Vast majority’ of vaping illnesses blamed on vitamin E

Health officials now blame vitamin E acetate for the “vast majority” of cases in the U.S. outbreak of vaping illnesses and they say doctors should monitor patients more closely after they go...

DATE: Dec 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

What if you knew a cookie would take 20 minutes to run off?

NEW YORK – Would you put down that bag of chips if you saw it had 170 calories? What if the label said it would take 16 minutes of running to burn off those calories? Health exper...

DATE: Dec 20, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

More Americans are dying at home rather than in hospitals

For the first time since the early 1900s, more Americans are dying at home rather than in hospitals, a trend that reflects more hospice care and progress toward the kind of end that most peo...

DATE: Dec 18, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

Durango mother’s agonizing search for a diagnosis leads to Lyme disease

‘I felt as if I had no purpose,’ Tasha Rayburn says

DATE: Dec 18, 2019 | CATEGORY: Pine River Times news

Durango mother’s agonizing search for a diagnosis leads to Lyme disease

‘I felt as if I had no purpose,’ Tasha Rayburn says

DATE: Dec 17, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Vaping illness death count surpasses 50 in U.S.

NEW YORK – The death toll in the vaping illness outbreak has topped 50, U.S. health officials said Thursday, Dec. 12. The 52 deaths in 26 states are among the 2,409 hospitalized c...

DATE: Dec 16, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

U.S. approves fish oil-based drug for cutting heart risks

TRENTON, N.J. – U.S. regulators on Friday approved expanded use of a fish oil-based drug for preventing serious heart complications in high-risk patients already taking cholesterol-lowering ...

DATE: Dec 16, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

Brain differences may be tied to obesity, kids’ study says

New results from the largest long-term study of brain development and children’s health raise provocative questions about obesity and brain function. Does excess body weight someh...

DATE: Dec 13, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

Phone-in-cheek: Spike seen in cellphone-linked face injuries

Add facial cuts, bruises and fractures to the risks from cellphones and carelessly using them. That’s according to a study published Dec. 5 that found a spike in U.S. emergency ro...

DATE: Dec 10, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

Bayfield parents find new ways to address teen depression

Conversation Cafe connects parents with resources

DATE: Dec 8, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

U.S. flu season arrives early, driven by an unexpected virus

NEW YORK – The U.S. winter flu season is off to its earliest start in more than 15 years. An early barrage of illness in the South has begun to spread more broadly, and there’s a ...

DATE: Dec 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

Officials list pot vape brands reported in U.S. outbreak

NEW YORK – Health officials investigating a nationwide outbreak of vaping illnesses have listed, for the first time, the vape brands most commonly linked to hospitalizations. Most...

DATE: Dec 6, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

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