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[Manzeenan]

So i realize that this seems to be about efficiently farming leather, for me the easiest way is cage traps. Wall off half of a cavern level from the other half with a cage trap path and capture underground critters. I usually put bridges to seal the paths when i get too much stuff from it.
Edit: I know my post says easiest instead of most efficient that was intentional, I'm just trying to be helpful

[archmagi1]

Definitely import leather. With high value of trap components, you can trade 1 high quality silver spiked ball for all the leather the human or dwarven caravans will bring, and then some. Set maximum demand from your liason, and they'll bring an armload of bins of leather, running a few hundred dwarf bucks each bin.

[Stench Guzman]

If you don't want to import lots of leather your best bet is to capture or buy as many different types of animals as you can, and dig a massive pasture underground in one of the layers where you have sand or dirt.

Poultry, crundles, and large reptiles like cave crocodiles and alligators work well.  Dogs will let you cross-train your Animal Trainers if you make them war dogs or hunting dogs first.  Elk Birds are hard to breed but they'll give you gizzard stones and antlers if that matters to you.

You can raid nearby civilizations for livestock if you have good ambushers.  Elves have exotic animals like their caravans do. goblins have beak dogs, which are egg layers, and kobolds can have giant cave spiders and helmet snakes.  Dwarves and humans have mundane animals but they'll do in a pinch.

[Fleeting Frames]

Unlike poultry, crundles and alligators do not work; as the two produce scales there is no leather to be had - unless you've modded your game, though in that case one might also use the mod that gives more leather for larger animals.

Reading earlier, I suppose dfhack's autobutcher could use an update so that it has the option to not butcher creatures too small to give a skin (or horn or gizzard stone, if going for those). This would allow one to only get skin/2 [bones]fat/2 meat/1 skull outputs.
Also, I'll note the estimated required size is bit higher than 1200-1400, I think around 1800? Exact value depends on animal due butchering looking internally at each part separately(E: A look at turkey raws and using butcher-science gives min size somewhere between 1643 and 1735, with 1689 average by my calcs, though Sphalerite gets 1587 for 'birds'; E2: And now I remember (and confirm) that keas sometimes produce 2 meat on butchering too, despite avg 1000 body size), then summing together. With that, Turkeys are big enough in just under three seasons, not four, which means they can outcompete peafowl (with under two seasons), if you're willing to make more butchers and accept the butchering date moving season earlier each year.

E: Oh yeah, in regards to PatrikLundell's "normal case": instead of splattering, telefragmenting the animals with minecarts is more efficient. Put the animals in a cage, put cage in a minecart, accelerate minecart to over 1 tile/step, make it expel the cage at speed with wall at the tile the flying cage would have skipped through. Cage and upperbody end up on the minecart side of the wall, every body part ends up 1 tile on the other side with zero velocity, combat reports or harm to dwarves standing right there.

2x4-square impulse accelerator with pressure plate triggered by cart linked to a floodgate to release the cart into wall is enough for this, iirc.