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Article snippet: BAY CITY, Tex. — “I’m gonna mash ’em out.” Ryan Ashcraft spotted some cattle loitering in standing water under a clump of trees and came out of a long, sweeping curve in his small helicopter to drop toward a clearing so narrow it seemed the blades might give the treetops a haircut — and potentially send Mr. Ashcraft and his passenger on a one-way trip to the afterlife. Mr. Ashcraft, 22, dipped toward the cattle and then pulled up sharply and hovered; the maneuver made the blades produce a sharp POP-POP-POP-POP-POP. The animals hate the noise, which puts many of them on the run. This wild ride on Friday was part of a modern-day rescue operation for stranded cattle at risk of drowning in the floodwaters produced by the unprecedented rainfall from Hurricane Harvey. No numbers have yet been released on the number of cattle missing or dead, but it will certainly be in the thousands. Throughout the weekend, distressed ranchers posted calls for help, as well as images of rescues to Facebook and Twitter, and on the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association site. After Hurricane Ike, in 2008, dead cows were found floating in floodwaters and rotting in trees, while thousands more, displaced, roamed Southern Texas. Ranchers have long used helicopters to manage livestock on large spreads and rugged terrain. But with Harvey, the task has taken on greater urgency, moving from herding to rescue. Texas, the top producer of beef in the United States, is home to 12.3 milli... Link to the full article to read more