Tiny Thumbelina is a fairy tale; a tiny girl whose adventures include toads , moles and naughty boys. Eventually like all good fairy tales, she finds her true love, a flower-fairy prince just her size.
When Mama goat had a pair of twins this spring there was a tiny surprise, a 3rd sibling but so tiny. Only about 1/3 the size of her brother and sister. She was very weak. The farmer watched closely but long after her siblings were on their feet and nursing the tiny goat-ling just lay in the hay.
It did not look good for the tiny baby. But the farmer was not going to give up so easily. He scooped up the tiny creature who was so small she fit in the palm of his large hands. He gently took her into the house where he cleaned her up and began the long process of hand feeding her.
She needed her mother’s milk with it’s special immunity giving properties so the farmer milked mama so that the littlest goat could have the same nutrition as her bigger brother and sister. It was nip and tuck at first but once the farmer knew his little charge would make it he named her Thumbelina.
By the time Thumbelina was 3 weeks old she was hopping and careening around the yard and head butting the pet dog Bandit. Bandit doesn’t seem to mind and follows the little terror everywhere.
She follows farmer as he goes about his chores. She has clearly bonded with the gentle man who saved her. She is too small for the barnyard so she lives in a child’s playpen in the house as a family pet.
Yes Thumbelina has become a healthy, if tiny, 3 week old kid. She is 6 inches tall and weighs about 4 lbs. It looks like Thumbelina, the pygmy goat, has found her happy ending just like the fairy tale.
Thumbelina is a pygmy goat but tiny even for that breed.