I have made several batches of sausages before, but never smoked and cured thin strips.
When I made sausage, I always mix in a real fatty piece of pork. Suggestions on what has worked for me:
* 11-12 fryers, deboned, makes about 20 pounds of cutlets.
* Freezing the cutlets greatly improve their ease of grinding. Not frozen solid, but harder than just refrigerator chilled.
Recipes:
* Mix 5 pounds of fatty pork (a 5-6 pound pork butt) into 20 pounds rabbit cutlets, with enough Italian seasoning for 25 pounds
* Pick up the thick cut bacon ends and pieces at the deli or meat counter. Again, 5 pounds of bacon ends to 11-12 fryers mixed with a breakfast sausage seasoning makes my favorite sausage in the whole world!
25 pounds of each may be a lot for some to process at once, so adjust accordingly!