Myself, I used to use Dwarf Therapist all the time to help me set who is working on what. However, since I almost never boot into Windows anymore, and there isn't a linux port of TheRapist, I've gone back to using only the tools available in DF itself. It takes me a bit longer to do stuff, but I feel I have more of a connection with my idiot dwarves that way.
For animals, there is a thread somewhere that detailed grazing needs versus meat output. IIRC sheep and goats are close to the most efficient median between the two. What do you find tedious about pastures? All I have ever needed to do was to designated a pasture area (with grass in it), then select which animals go in the pasture. If a pasture looks like it is running out of grass I find the biggest/oldest beastie assigned to it and turn it into leather and hamburger to try and resolve the issue. I've had good luck with 11x11 pastures so far (i.e., i -> shift+arrow left -> shift+arrow down -> n -> N -> pick which animals are assigned there -> esc -> esc -> check something else).
For the dining hall I typically make a 6x7 (holds 10 tables/chair, one tile border) or 6x9 (holds 14) room with a second 6x9 room next to it. that second room contains a still, kitchen and fishery with a 3x5 booze and 3x4 food stockpiles. This has been more than adequate for my current fortress for the last 5 years in game (though, admittedly, I have a popcap of 32 and only 45 dwarves).
So far, I've kept a veritable Noah's Arc of every single animal that I've acquired. Each one sits in its own species' pasture in a neat, organized manner. Whenever I go into the Animals menu listing to slaughter them, though, I get a massive unhappy thought when I look at the total and nearly complete disorganization of the list. Makes it nearly impossible to find that one Bunny Doe (tame) that you're missing, and just as frustrating when you want to move the pasture to make room for a wind power plant or something. So far, I've got around a quarter of the surface covered in pastures, so my main concern about efficiency is about production per tick rather than production per pasture unit. I want to be able to wholesale slaughter large portions of my herd without having to grind through the entire list, looking for six or or seven animals at a time out of a list of hundreds.
BTW, if only more people would post comprehensively like Starver, then this thread would really get going.
A well written, well thought-out reply that wins many internets.
Dwarf Therapist only allows you to have nicknames that are only so long. It's not enough characters for me, so I end up having to go through the Unit list every single time I want do something like change my Doctor 6, which has just completed a Strange Mood, into a Stonecrafter 11.
I also use only the one spreadsheet. I do things for efficiency, and am undoubtedly at least an Adequate Dwarf Fortress Bookkeeper (player) now. That doesn't change the fact that I cringe every time I see a game require that its players go out of their way and do office work outside of the game in order to play the game effectively. If Toady wants to continue to have players pull open their Excel spreadsheets and have at least 3 or 4 windows open to programs that are not Dwarf Fortress just to play Dwarf Fortress, then he should just integrate them into the game. I'd really like to be in an in-game office if I'm going to do spreadsheets and chart organization work while playing a game.
I know that animals at the bottom of the list are the new arrivals/births, but the fact that I have absolutely no control over the sorting of the animals is extremely frustrating.
So far, the largest herds that I have are bunnies and alpacas. I know that they aren't particularly productive, but until I can find out definitively which animal out of all available animals is the best to maintain for rapid item production, I'll keep maintaining all of my llamas, pigs, alpacas, and every single other animal that I have.
Unrelated Sidenote: I just realized that mined ice will sublimate upon melting.