Health - The Durango Herald

Are 3-D mammograms really better? U.S. puts scans to the test

WASHINGTON – A better mammogram? Increasingly women are asked if they want a 3-D mammogram instead of the regular X-ray – and now U.S. health officials are starting a huge study to tell if t...

DATE: Dec 12, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Mercy hospital opens hub for sports medicine

7,000-square-foot space to offer physical therapy, athletic training and exercise classes

DATE: Dec 12, 2017 | CATEGORY: Local News

IUD program leads to decline in teen pregnancies, abortions in Colorado

DENVER – Colorado teen pregnancies and abortions have dropped sharply since 2009, and state health officials attribute much of the trend to the increased availability of free and low-cost ac...

DATE: Dec 11, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Gene therapy shows promise against blood-clotting disease

Gene therapy has freed 10 men from nearly all symptoms of hemophilia for a year so far, in a study that fuels hopes that a one-time treatment can give long-lasting help and perhaps even cure...

DATE: Dec 9, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

U.S. flu season off to an early start; widespread in 7 states

NEW YORK – This year’s flu season is off to a quick start and so far it seems to be dominated by a nasty bug. Health officials say the flu vaccine seems well matched to the viruse...

DATE: Dec 8, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Small risk of breast cancer seen with hormone contraceptives

CHICAGO – Modern birth control pills that are lower in estrogen have fewer side effects than past oral contraceptives. But a large Danish study suggests that, like older pills, they still mo...

DATE: Dec 7, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

‘Take all their excuses away’: Hard cases in heroin fight

More than 64,000 died of drug overdoses last year in the U.S., most from opioids

DATE: Dec 6, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Doctors: Over a year to see if uterus transplant successful

DALLAS – It took well over a year to determine if a woman who received a womb transplant would become the first in the U.S. to give birth, transplant surgeons in Dallas said Monday. ...

DATE: Dec 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Replacing lymph nodes to ease painful legacy of cancer care

WASHINGTON – Breast cancer treatment left Susan Wolfe-Tank with an arm too painfully swollen to lift anything heavy or even fit into her usual clothing – a debilitating condition that gets l...

DATE: Dec 4, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

Expanding DNA’s alphabet lets cells produce novel proteins

WASHINGTON – Scientists are expanding the genetic code of life, using man-made DNA to create a semi-synthetic strain of bacteria – and new research shows those altered microbes actually work...

DATE: Dec 3, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

First baby from a uterus transplant in the US born in Dallas

The first birth as a result of a womb transplant in the United States has occurred in Texas, a milestone for the U.S. but one achieved several years ago in Sweden. A woman who had...

DATE: Dec 2, 2017 | CATEGORY: Health

When healing’s needed, seek out these immunity-boosting foods

My daughter is in the midst of three surgeries that will span five months. She seems much less anxious than I, but children often remain carefree while their parents worry. Before her first ...

DATE: Nov 29, 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