Ground beef question

[Kris in MI]

I'm posting my question here in hopes maybe some of you home beef raisers may have run into this.

My mother-in-law just called to let me know she got 160 pounds of burger given to her. It was from an aged black angus cow that wouldn't rebreed. Freshly butchered, nothing seemed wrong w/the cow in terms of health and the carcass looked fine. The ground beef, however, came out of the grinder watery/mushy (why it was given to her rather than sold). The guy who did the butchering has an approved facility, and he's never had burger turn out like that before. She says she ate some, it tasted fine, and she's still alive and well 2 days later, lol.

Does anyone know why the burger would be mushy, and should we be concerned about eating it? (She wants to give us a large portion of what she got).

[tinknal]

Maybe it wasn't hung long enough? Not sure.

[myersfarm]

Read your story I wonder what size of patty she started out with and how much was left ? like stating with a pound patty and it cooked down to a 1/4 pounder....would mean it has a lot of fat or water in the hamburger

a cow that will not rebred will sometimes gain fat like crazy...because they do not have to grow a calf..on the same feed the cows that are growing one are

[agmantoo]

The wrong grinding plates (holes too small) put in the grinder will create mushy meat.

[wr]

I wanted to butcher a heifer that had prolapsed and my butcher warned me that because of the high levels of hormone, the meat would be mushy so I'm wondering if the cow may have not bred back because of something like that.

[KIT.S]

The butcher should have known when he ground, but if the temp of the meat is not low enough, the meat can be mushy. Meat temp, size of holes in the disk and if the blades are dull all can contribute.
If it tastes good (and if Mom is still feeling well!) I'd use it in casseroles and meatloaf. Congrats. That's a lot of meatloaf.
Kit