Before he goes into rut a bull reindeer is fatter than an ox reindeer, but if the ox is excused work he gets fatter. A wild reindeer is much larger than a tame one. The bull goes into rut a week before St Matthew’s Day and it lasts for a fortnight until Michaelmas. During this period he is wild and butts and often gets so thin that he dies. The cows, therefore, mostly give birth around St Eric’s Day, only very few calves coming later than that. During the rut the hair falls out and the velvet comes off the horns.