One of the nation’s top cows hails from Church Point

If CT Lady Rhineaux Ray 8/9 gives you a lick, you’re in luck and in the good graces of a two-time national and international champion.
Troy Thibodeaux, owner and operator of Circle T Cattle Company in Church Point, said, “She licks you. She does that to people she likes. That’s a cow’s way of saying hello.”
Thibodeaux’s farm is home to 8/9, as she is called for short, and the prize cow is soon to be named the state red brahma.
“Daniel Lyons, our hay man, apparently has the ear of the lieutenant governor,” Thibodeaux said, laughing. “He is excited that we have something (livestock-related) that is better than Texas. There is a resolution to make her the red Brahman cow of Louisiana. In the next few weeks, we will go to the capitol for the resolution.”
In the nearly six years that 8/9 has been owned by Circle T Cattle Company, she has won numerous awards including Calf Champion at the 2010 Blue Bonnet Kickoff Classic, Reserve National Champion at National Brahman Show and Overall Grand Champion at the Fort Worth Stock Show.
The cow won her highest honors at the Houston Livestock show where she was twice named the national and international champion. In total, 8/9 has 47 grand champion banners, and at the age of three, she was retired from showing.
Thibodeaux and his father, Bob, picked the cow out at a Tom Olden and Friends Brahman sale at the state fair grounds in Shreveport in May 2010. The 9-month-old cow was purchased from Ray Madden of Choudrant. In a nod to the Thibodeauxs’ Cajun roots and the cow’s sire, Mr. Red Rhino, the calf was named CT Lady Rhineaux Ray 8/9.
The rancher said 8/9’s road to the top started out a little rocky.
“The first two or three shows didn’t go so well,” Thibodeaux said. “She was like a growing kid a — her feet were too big and she was gaining weight. She hit a big growth spurt. At 14 to 15 months, she wasn’t too pretty. She placed low for a while at shows, but the by the fall, she was the international Brahman calf champion. She started to excel then.”
8/9 competed in her final show in Dallas in 2013, and in her show career, she was the top in her breed.
“She was a two time national and international champion,” Thibodeaux said. “That’s a feat no other animal in her breed has done.”
Even though she is retired from showing, 8/9’s legacy continues at livestock shows around the country.
Over the last few years, 8/9’s first-born, a male, was named Reserve Calf Champion Bull at the International Livestock Show in Houston, and some of her embryo daughters are Reserve International Grand Champions, Intermediate Division Champions, Junior Division Champions and Grand Champion embryo producers. This year, some of her offspring won Grand and Reserve Grand Champion honors at the LSU winter and spring 4-H shows.
The awards of Lady Rhineaux Ray and her offspring have made her the top Brahman cow in the American Brahman Breeders Association’s Register of Renown.
About half of 8/9’s offspring belong to Circle T Cattle Company or the company and other people. Thibodeaux’s daughters Lanna and Leah and son Wesley have helped show 8/9 and some of her offspring.
Thibodeaux said his family has always had cows, and milk cows were his father’s side business when he was a child. The younger Thibodeaux got into the cattle showing business as a member of 4-H in 1971. He eventually went off to college and then work, and his dad got out of the cattle business in the early 1980s.
“Those were hard times in the cattle industry”, Thibodeaux added.
In 2001, he moved back to Louisiana, and in 2009, his father was diagnosed with cancer.
“He’s always loved the cattle business, so we got back into it,” Thibodeaux said. “Now we have about 300 cross-bred cows and about 15 to 18 registered cows. We show gray Brahman too. Right now, we have the number one, two and three red Brahmans and they are all off Rhineaux.”
Thibodeaux said the livestock industry is doing pretty well despite the ups and downs of the economy.
“Prior to fall 2015, it was super successful due to record-breaking prices caused by the lack of inventory available,” he said. “There were several years of drought in west and east. Lots of ranchers sold their herds, and inventory was drastically reduced. In 2014 and 2015, it built back up. There were unbelievable record prices.
“Things have softened up based on the stagnant economy. If you don’t have a job, you’re not eating steak. We are still doing better than 2010 to 2012, but not as good as 2014 to 2015.