Cut of Pork for Sausage?

Scale your recipe to the amount of meat you end up with. Recipes by weight and metric make it really easy.

I usually buy them in double cryo-vac packages at Sam's Club.  If I'm just making a 5lb batch, I can cut the remainder into 1"x1" by however long strips and vacuum pack & freeze them for use the next time (or in 5lb batches if I have more than 5lb left over).  The odd lot gets weighed and made into something at some point. The reason I cut strips like that is they are trimmed and ready to feed into the grinder without any additional work once thawed.  I buy in bulk when they run sales and try to keep some frozen and ready for use between the sales.  When I see $0.99 and $1.29 a pound butts, I load up.  I checked today and they are running $1.68 which is about average for my area.

I also generally have my favorite recipes broken down to the 1lb level so I can make a 3lb or 7lb (or whatever) if needed.  You only have to do it once, and if you set them up in excel at the 1lb level, it will auto calculate what you need for spices for even a 7.3lb batch (works best with the spices converted to weights in grams).

a good digital scale will solve your problem as they can measure in 1/100 oz increments if needed ( even grams )

with a good scale  and a wee bit of math you will soon stop worrying about getting even number of lbs of meat

the calculations are easy once you get used to doing them 

I know your post is not brand new but I might be able to help. I've been a sausage maker for over twenty years and still learning new ideas. As to the type cut to use, pork butt is best. If you have a Sam's near you, that's the place to get your meat. Butts come in a two-pack and weigh about 18-25 or so pounds.

Use a digital scale to mix your seasoning and make a large batch. I generally make enough seasoning for 50#. It will keep for months. Weigh the batch, when finished then divide by the size of the batch. Example: seasoning for my 50# of breakfast sausage weighs 26 oz. 26 divided by 50 equals .52 oz. Now you don't have to have exact weights, you to use .52 oz per pound of meat. The other advantage of using a scale is that every batch of sausage tastes just like the last batch.

I do the same for smoked sausage, of which I make a lot. I've done 50# of smoke venison in the last month and still have another 50# to do. I have a few tricks for that. If you steal from a few, that's plagerism. If you steal from many, it's research. I'm a great researcher.

SY, if you like lean sausage, try a pork backstrap/loin sometime. They are usually on sale for less than $2 a # and no bone. I have made sausage many times with these and they are quite lean but hold together for patties etc. Just DON"T overcook them!