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[Shootandrun]

There is only one thing I modded in this thread: I removed the "exotic" tag for all the animals in-game.

Facts

Cave crocs hatch 20 to 60 eggs at a time (average number: 40). This number of eggs is the second best in the game (saltwater crocodiles are the winners). The crocodiles hatchlings grow to full size in two years. Their meat has a value multiplier of 4(!). A full grown cave croc can produce up to 50 (or something like that) units of meat and forty in average. So, if we do the math, knowing that a breeding pair will hatch eggs two times a year in the best condition and that in average there will be 40 crocs with 40 units of meat each, we get 3200 units of meat a year, enough to feed 200 dorfs for two year. So, once you start farming them, after two years you will have a fully operational meat farm, capable of feeding a fully sized fortress for the eternity.

Why should I choose them over crops?
1) You will need less crops for feeding your dorfs and will have more to make booze, making exotic booze farms much easier to create.
2) You can cook meat without risking your industry (as cooked crops don't leave seeds behind).
3) You can use cave crocs for more uses. Because of their enormous value, they make marvelous animals for zoos. They can be used to have a super bone farm, and, above anything else, they can be used as a last stand defense against enemies.
4) Who's more badass: a little dwarf farming putting seeds in soil for his whole life, or a dwarf who's breeding cave crocs?

Why should I use them over saltwater crocodiles?
The meat of the cave crocs is more valuable than the meat of the saltwater crocs and cave crocs can be found on every biome.

What am I waiting for?
I don't know. You should be farming them RIGHT NOW.

[SmokedRWA]

So the most difficult part of all of this is catching a breeding pair.

[Girlinhat]

No thanks, I enjoy my FPS...

[DrKillPatient]

I've actually been planning to drop 50 angry cave crocs on goblin ambushes, didn't know about the meat's value though. Better rescue that breeding pair from the retracting floor, then. =P

[IronyOwl]

Possible Issue: Is the 50-animal limit still in effect? If so, that'd put quite a damper on your plan, as you wouldn't be able to mass produce any more croclings until you'd eaten the current ones.

[Girlinhat]

Sort of.  They won't breed any more if they reach 50, but any existing pregnancies will continue.  Because of this, you can have 49 female crocs and 1 male.  Kill one female, and they'll lay 48*(20~60) fertilized eggs, spawning between 960 and 2,880 new crocs, on top of the ones already alive.  If you kept them all away from the nesting area, and suddenly opened the nest to those 48, you could achieve maximum egg power.

[Sarda]

In short: All female crocs stay safe until you get 49. All but 1 male croc go to the military.

[nogoodnames]

Better make sure the breeding male is big, fat and muscular for maximum harvest potential.

[Acperience]

No thanks, I'll stick with my giant eagles and giant cave spiders.

[MythagoWoods]

I thought the reason I farmed them was revenge for all the fledgling dwarves they drove to their graves... but this is a good idea too.

[outofpractice]

how do you capture / tame them without a dungeon master though? Or just have them hostile?

[Girlinhat]

Mod them.  The most widely accepted still-vanilla mod you can perform is to remove all exotics.

[JAFANZ]

how do you capture / tame them without a dungeon master though? Or just have them hostile?

The OP modded all "exotics" (requiring the DM) to "[pet]" rather than "[pet_exotic]".

The easiest way to do this is grab the "NoExotics" app from the Dwarf Fortress File Depository.

[SmokedRWA]

Or make the DM appointable by the mayor.

[Darkmere]

Or make the DM appointable by the mayor.

I've heard that doesn't actually work. You get the position but not the training ability. Confirm/deny?