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[Beast Tamer]

Title says it all. I'd prefer something that doesn't take a lot of upkeep, as in grazers, and provides maximum output of meat and meat byproducts. Then need to be common enough that getting a breeding pair wouldn't be too difficult.

Currently my meat industry is based off of dogs, but I'm gradually fazing in captured Wild Boars and Emus. I'd like a few more beasts to compliment them.

[bennerman]

If cats are the breeders they used to be, I"d probably recommend them

[Beast Tamer]

That would require a lot of upkeep considering that they adopt random dwarves, and they run the risk of overpopulating my map. Cats are definitely out.

[Urist McKoga]

Any non-grazer animal is a good choise to start a meat industry. I really like to start with a pair of pigs.

[Arcvasti]

Hens and nest boxes. Eggs > Butcering animals for meat. If you've got your heart set on killing animals and eating them, pigs are pretty good. Rabbits are also neat.

[Rude]

Pigs. Fairly large, non grazers.
Any grazer is a bad idea because of your low upkeep requirements. (With the exception of Draltha IF you butcher them immediately instead of trying to raise domestic herds. But if you want to hunt / trap, then you might as well aim for elephants.)

You might also consider large birds like geese or turkeys, because they can reproduce very quickly. If you're looking for food, a few hens can produce more prepared meals than you'll ever need that can be sold for game breakingly huge profit.

I strongly recommend Cave crocs. I don't have their specs in front of me (size, time til adulthood, etc.) , but they are pretty big (bigger than cows ) and can produce a clutch of ~60. And are domesticate-able. And do not graze. And double as tanks that can chomp off unarmored limbs.

[Orange Wizard]

Zombie pigs. GIANT SPERM WHALES

There was a thread on that a while back. It involves using a necromancer (or an evil biome, but that may result in Fun) to reanimate pigs (granting them big size bonuses for more meat), taking them out with spikes, and butchering the remains.
You could do the same with cave crocodiles, or bears, or rocs, or whatever.

[Larix]

Grizzly bear or alligator.

Large felines are also a decent option, but take longer to grow up. All of these give good butchering returns, need no grazing area, have added material value and can help defend the fort.

You have a decent chance to get a breeding pair or two of such creatures if you trade peacefully with the elven civ (i'm aware that this goes against some people's deeply held beliefs).

For animals that can be brought at embark, fowl (turkey, chicken), dogs and pigs are good choices.

If you have good relations with the goblin civ, they'll shower you with gifts of dozens of large, high-value butcherable animals per year. Unfortunately, such imports will end when their diplomat visits your fort, but until then, goblins can provide all the meat your fort wants, and more (they also provide cheap clothing and metal goods, and a prized substance called FUN).

[Gigaz]

The Giant sperm whale can breed in fortress mode and a single pair of those should be able to feed any reasonable fortress. No additional food supplies required (except for booze).
Butchering one might be a bit messy, but you'd only have to do that once in several years.

[blapnk]

In terms of upkeep, your dwarves will automatically collect eggs as they're laid without you having to assign animals to slaughter and creating a mess of other items. They'll just passively give you a steady trickle of food without you having to worry about it other than keeping your cooks busy. Another advantage of egg layers like turkeys and cave crocs is that you can easily regulate their population, either by making sure your dwarves collect all the eggs, denying the animals access to nest boxes, or denying your dwarves access to nest boxes.

[Beast Tamer]

I already have an egg layer in the form of Emu's, I just need to make a nest box tower to start the harvesting. What about Cavern creatures, any decent animals for butchering?

[PDF urist master]

rutherers. very big and very common with no upkeep. If you have a breeding stock you can get food very easily.

[FallenAngel]

If you have enough next boxes and cage traps, getting enough Crundles to make an effective egg farm will feed a good-sized fortress. If you forbid a nest box or two you could get more Crundles, although I haven't tried.

[Urist Da Vinci]

If you really want a grazer, the optimal grazers are goats or sheep.

[Larix]

If you have enough next boxes and cage traps, getting enough Crundles to make an effective egg farm will feed a good-sized fortress. If you forbid a nest box or two you could get more Crundles, although I haven't tried.

You have to mod crundles if you want to breed them. They have no CHILD tag and thus only lay sterile eggs.