Health - The Durango Herald

Who says you can’t eat red meat? Food advice questioned anew

NEW YORK – So is red meat good or bad for you? If the answer were only that simple. A team of international researchers recently rattled the nutrition world by saying there isn’t ...

DATE: Oct 14, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

Durango pancreatic cancer patient beating the odds

Low-dose chemotherapy and IV vitamin C prove effective

DATE: Oct 14, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

Doctors turn to thumbs for diagnosis and treatment by text

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Dr. Anna Nguyen spoke with none of the five patients she treated on a recent weekday morning. She didn’t even leave her dining room. The emergency physician n...

DATE: Oct 9, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

3 sexually transmitted diseases hit new highs again in US

NEW YORK – U.S. infections from three sexually transmitted diseases have risen for the fifth consecutive year. More than 1.7 million cases of chlamydia were reported last year. Th...

DATE: Oct 9, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

Twin births in U.S. now going down, at lowest level in decade

NEW YORK – Fewer U.S. families are seeing double, according to a government report that finds a drop in new twins. Twin births steadily increased for more than three decades, driv...

DATE: Oct 7, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

U.S. vaping illnesses top 1,000; death count is up to 18

NEW YORK – The number of vaping-related illnesses has surpassed 1,000, and there’s no sign the outbreak is fading, U.S. health officials said Thursday. Doctors say the illnesses, ...

DATE: Oct 4, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

Group pulls video that stirred talk of designer babies

A government-funded group that’s leading efforts to set standards for gene editing has pulled a video it posted in the wake of concern about how it portrayed the ethically dicey science and ...

DATE: Oct 2, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

U.S. vaping illness count jumps to 805, deaths rise to 13

NEW YORK – Hundreds more Americans have been reported to have a vaping-related breathing illness, and the death toll has risen to 13, health officials said Thursday. The Centers f...

DATE: Sep 27, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

Health officials: It’s time to give flu vaccine another shot

WASHINGTON – The flu forecast is cloudy and it’s too soon to know if the U.S. is in for a third miserable season in a row, but health officials said Thursday not to delay vaccination. ...

DATE: Sep 27, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

Southwest Center for Independence closes after break-in

Nonprofit testing for meth residue, staff working remotely

DATE: Sep 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Laser therapy offers lasting relief for muscle, nerve pain

Light repairs tissue at cellular level

DATE: Sep 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: Health

What we know (and don’t) about Juul, teen vaping and illness

NEW YORK – An outbreak of vaping illnesses. A surge in teens using electronic cigarettes. They’re often spoken of in the same urgent breath, but it’s not clear how – or even if – they are co...

DATE: Sep 25, 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