Hospital and clinic - The Durango Herald

Animas Surgical Hospital expanding off site

Ambulatory Surgery Center at Escalante set to open in summer

DATE: Apr 18, 2021 | CATEGORY: Business

San Juan County, N.M., holds largest drive-thru shot clinic in state

700 people receive COVID-19 vaccine

DATE: Feb 1, 2021 | CATEGORY: New Mexico

Public health officials urge caution as COVID-19 cases trend upward

‘The virus is roaring back all over the country’

DATE: Oct 30, 2020 | CATEGORY: Local News

Nurses say state staffing levels leave patients vulnerable

DENVER – Some Denver nurses said the state’s minimum staffing levels have left them overworked and patients vulnerable to substandard care. A Colorado Department of Public Health ...

DATE: Sep 23, 2020 | CATEGORY: Business

Former CEO pushes back on audit of Gallup hospital

SANTA FE – The former CEO of Rehoboth McKinley Christian hospital in Gallup on Wednesday challenged the findings of a special audit of finances and contracts at the taxpayer-supported hospit...

DATE: Sep 16, 2020 | CATEGORY: Business

Medicare penalizes Mercy Regional Medical Center for post-care complications

Hospital will lose 1% of federal insurance payments for two years

DATE: Feb 6, 2020 | CATEGORY: Local News

Regional blood supplier faces critical shortage

Donations typically down after the holidays

DATE: Jan 19, 2020 | CATEGORY: Local News

Planned Parenthood offering birth control prescriptions via phone app

Licensed providers review patient information

DATE: Oct 30, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Cardiology and urology clinic opens in Durango

Specialty physicians leave Bayfield after 2½ years

DATE: Jun 17, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Monopolies drive health care costs in Southwest Colorado

Legislation seeks to increase transparency, lower costs

DATE: May 26, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Pediatric Partners of the Southwest to oversee Durango High School health clinic

Florida Mesa Elementary health center to close

DATE: May 23, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

Durango man fights high prescription drug costs ... and wins

As prices soar, residents and elected officials take a stand

DATE: May 17, 2019 | CATEGORY: Local News

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Photos: Durango High School boys golf competes at stateDemons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Demons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Photos: Cowboy Gathering Social and Parade

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