Thank you for the posts, This year I will try a different ratio like 70/30 or 60/40. I will have to try using the bacon ends and pieces to add more fat content, I have used salt pork with real good results, so I may use the bacons ends and pieces along with the salt pork< I bet that would be good mixture.
One thing about the bacon ends and pieces is that it's not all fat. There are some nice chunks of meat in there too that add just a hint of that cured bacon flavor to your sausage. I don't like fatty greasy sausage most of the time, but I do like the extra fat in there when I'm cooking it especially sliced in a skillet and then drain/absorb on paper towels. I also do like the extra fat in there and leave some of it (especially my smoked sausage) when I'm making a base for a gumbo or sauce piquant, you can taste the difference. Another thing that I do is when I am measuring my pink salt to incorporate into my seasoning/water for smoked sausages, I measure of course and only add enough salt to cover the feral pork or whatever meat I'm using. The bacon is already cured and is already a little salty, if you add curing salt to cover the bacon too I have found that it comes out too salty. Most of the pigs that I keep for sausage are pretty fat and probably don't need the extra bacon in there but I would rather have my sausage a little fatty vs being too lean and dry. The first time I stuffed my own sausage I made 100 lbs. 75 lbs of it (deer & pork) came out too lean & dry.
ended up feeding a lot of it to the dogs.