I've read and researched a lot of pro's and cons of meat cavies. I watched one little
video of a permies couple raising them in cages over a
pond that had crayfish in it who fed on the feces. They're a slower turn-around than rabbits, they reproduce less, but their pro's are easy care and containment.
I personally can't keep an animal in a tiny cage. My rabbits go colony style on the ground and in special out buildings made for them. But if they find a way out? Sheesh. Off and away!
FREEDOM BUNNIES! Garden massacre time! At least they get eaten before they make a real pest of themselves. GPs? I haven't tried it, but I've read plenty that they have small territories they're not prone to straying from. That they can be kept outdoors easily if given enough food/fodder and a safe place to live (and if you can keep them from getting eaten). They also do well in much smaller areas of confinement if need be than rabbits do, since they're so small.
Rabbits are also really good at drawing blood on me at butcher time. It wouldn't happen if I wore thick gloves, but I don't like wearing gloves. My goal is to try and get a butcher round done without getting scratched to shreds, but I rarely meet that goal. I imagine GPs would be pretty harmless to handle and butcher, as long as you weren't breeding chronic biters.
I've long wanted to get into meat cavies, ideally the big varieties, but whatever I get my hands on when the time comes will suffice. I would consider them part of "not putting all my eggs in one basket" in terms of meat and livestock. They seem particularly a diverse prospect in terms of
permaculture due to their timid and tame reputations.
I already raise rabbits, but they are a fight and a pain sometimes. Sometimes they reproduce too much, other times not enough. If I could set up some GPs in an established run or in the aviary or another cat-proof area, and they could feed themselves in the growing season, not make a whole bunch of noise, not demand extra chores from me, and produce meat on their own? I'm game to try! Curious for more input here.