I've got a bunch of static routes on my linux boxen using iproute2 tables to send traffic down the correct interfaces, do you think there's a better way using dynamic routing? If so what should I start googling?
If the topology is simple then managing static routes can be way easier than doing dynamic routing correctly, otherwise I'd start looking at BGP. Your best option right now in terms of software is FRR or bird.
But first you should understand dynamic routing and decide if it's right for your use case.
Is there particular reason you'd go directly to BGP and not e.g. OSPF?
Familiarity and personal preference
if two routes to the same destination exist the kernel will (in general) use the one with the lower metric
proto kernel
this is where the route came from, for most end user hosts this will be kernel but if your box is running a dynamic routing protocol this might be something like "ospf", "bgp", etc; those protocols learn routes from neighbors and install them into the kernel routing table
scope link
this is information about the distance to the nexthop, in this case link means the nexthop is on the local network