Personally, I will always stick with mutes; they are harder to tame, by far, but here in NE Ohio our winters can be pretty brutal and the Australians are not made for that. Plus, ours do their nesting/hatching in the spring, whereas Australians are on the opposite "down under" schedule. I know a lady here who's bred for probably 40 years, and she has indoor, heated heated ponds in a barn for them in the winter. My mutes have been with me for 13 years and always stay out on their pond no matter what. They shun the shelter we provide for them, preferring to curl up in a ball on the ice. I will admit, when it's 5 degrees outside and they don't move for long periods of time, it's pretty nerve-wracking, even after all these years. But they are very large and obviously healthy so I follow the old "if it's not broke, don't fix it" philosophy!
NOTE: I do have a female mute (offspring of this pair) who will be 3 next spring. Never found her the right home, but really do need to sell her. I'm just very fussy about where my babies go!
Here in Texas Mutes may get overheated but know people have them. I have the 2 Black Australian as noted in prior posting. Have friend with Silver Australian male derived from the Black species. She just lost her female that was black but crossed with Silver so cygnets would have been partially Black. Paige has a White Mute female and has recently decided to purchase a male. Found an unsexed one and waiting for DNA results....she'll buy it if it's a male. I know what you mean about being picky about where your offspring go. I feel the same way about my birds. If I can't find someone to build a proper pond for mine soon I may try finding a new good home for Gracie and Gunther that are almost 4 years old. I'm retired and cleaning that 300 gallon trough every few days is becoming difficult. Talking to another pond builder but usually they prove to me through conversation they don't know what their doing. This person sounds promising. I'd love to return to just using the large plastic kiddie pools found easily that cost about $20 but was told they need more water to breed in. Not wanting more water so I can get cygnets but Gunther was rough on the female in the shallow water. Have been told they breed in water. Is that true?