09/28/2026
THE GREAT TEXAS A&M DEBATE
Texas A&M was a bloodline using English White Coturnix quail developed by Texas A&M University. That project ended in the 70s, but the name still persists today.
People still see a picture of an English White and automatically call it a Texas A&M. But, if the line still existed today, you would not be able to tell the difference between a Texas A&M English White and any other English White just by looking at a photo. Texas A&M used English Whites for their line.
A Texas A&M was an English White, but an English White is not necessarily a Texas A&M.
This is because Texas A&M was a bloodline, not a gene. It was a specific line of English White that was bred by the university. The birds were known to be very aggressive.
A bloodline is a line of birds (or other species) that are bred by a specific breeder for specific traits. Once someone else outcrosses that bloodline or breeds it differently, it is no longer a bloodline.
For instance, let’s take Labrador Retrievers as an example.
Labrador Retriever is the breed (just as Coturnix is the “breed”).
Yellow lab is the variety (just as English White is the variety).
Let’s say a dog breeder has a line of yellow labs they’ve been line breeding for years - the Champion Von Muttsnstuff line. They don’t go to the shelter and find a yellow lab and breed it into the line. They don’t breed a chocolate lab into the line. They don’t breed a cocker spaniel into the line. They don’t let a stray mutt breed to their dogs and call it their line. The entire line is made up of the descendants of Champion Von Muttsnstuff yellow Labrador retrievers.
Breed - Labrador retriever (Coturnix)
Variety - Yellow (English White)
Line - Champion Von Muttsnstuff (Texas A&M)
Let’s say that breeder sells off his dogs. They go to all different people all over the US. 50 years go by. The original dogs are long dead. The original dogs had been bred by different people to different dogs outside of the original line. Some were bred to chocolate labs. Some were bred to black labs. Some were bred to yellow labs of various origins. Some were bred to Dalmatians. Some were bred to golden retrievers. Some were bred by stray mutts. The current descendants of the original Von Muttsnstuff line are now many, many generations removed from the original dogs.
Now, 50 years after the Champion Von Muttsnstuff line was bred by the breeder of the Von Muttsnstuff line, the yellow lab that is bought at the pet store is not a Von Muttsnstuff. The yellow lab from a backyard breeder who just found two labs and put them together to make some cash is not Champion Von Muttsnstuff. If you purchase a champion yellow lab show dog from Big Mountain Yellow Labs, that is a Big Mountain yellow lab, not a Von Muttsnstuff.
The line ended when the original breeder stopped breeding them.
Even if the original breeder sold his dogs to another person and they kept the line going without outcrossing, after multiple generations, the line would no longer be the same line. The new breeder would select differently over time. The new breeder might like a blockier head. Might select for shorter legs. Might like a different shade of yellow for the coat color. The breeder might not select at all and just put one dog with another dog on a whim.
In other words, the current generation would not resemble the original line, even if the descendants were from that line, and even if they are still yellow labs.
So no, after 50 years, the Texas A&M line no longer exists as the original bloodline. What you see out there are just English Whites. Are some of the English Whites you see out there distant relatives of Texas A&M? Maybe. But think of how many generations of Coturnix quail that have been produced since the Texas A&M line was discontinued by the breeders at the university. You can get about 4 generations a year. That’s 200 or more generations removed from the original birds. That’s 200 generations or more that may have been mixed with other lines, other varieties, and bred by other breeders. Unless one of the original people who bred the Texas A&M line is still breeding that line today, there are no longer any Texas A&M. What you see out there are just English White - the original color for the A&M line. They are other breeders’ lines now.
