“EVERYTHING I HAVE, I HAVE THANKS TO THEM”: While His Peers Go Out, Miloš (21) Lives in a Tent, Tends 300 Sheep and Pays for His Own Education! (VIDEO)

Miloš Škorić is 21 years old, lives on the slopes of Fruška Gora, and practices nomadic sheep herding.

He bought his first sheep in the seventh grade of elementary school, and today he spends his days in a tent with 300 sheep.

His daily routine consists of tending sheep, working on pastures, and living in a tent, sometimes even without electricity. Miloš, who is also a member of a folklore society, owns five chickens, four dogs, 100 lambs, a foal, and 300 sheep.

“I bought my first sheep in the seventh grade. I worked whatever I could for daily wages, just to earn money to buy sheep. Over a few years, I learned and understood how it all actually works. Nomadic sheep herding means having a tent and this enclosure, and moving with the sheep wherever there is grazing. You adapt the terrain and pasture so the sheep can enjoy it. As long as there is pasture, we move. When one area is grazed out, we move on,” Miloš explained for the show Izazovi avanturu, hosted by Radovan Kovač.

In practice, as he says, he lives in a tent.

“It has happened that we were away from home for two or three months at a time. I have a car battery that I use to charge my phone so I can stay in touch with my family. We are outside 365 days a year; we don’t even have barns, this is how we keep the sheep. They give birth in winter. There was snow a few days ago, up to 40 centimeters, and they were lambing in that snow,” the young man recounted.

Thieves and Wild Animals

He and his grandfather take turns staying in the tent. Someone must always be present because of thieves and wild animals, and he says stray dogs cause them serious problems.

“People abandon dogs in the forest. One dog can come and kill 15 lambs in a single night. That means I’ve raised 15 sheep for an entire year for nothing.”

He began nomadic sheep herding in his first year of high school, when he already owned 20 sheep.

“I’m not sure if it was my third or fourth year of high school when my colleague Milenko told me that a man had 145 sheep for sale. It attracted me, and with his help and advice I bought those 145 sheep and got started,” Miloš said.

“I GAINED EVERYTHING WITH THEM”

He paid them off within a year.

“We agreed that I would pay for them over a longer period, exactly one year. When I got those sheep, I started herding seriously. I wouldn’t keep them if I didn’t love them. I would never sell every single one. I would keep at least ten sheep out of love, just to have them near my house and feed them, just so I could see them. I know I’ve gained everything thanks to them. Even my education — I financed everything with them. I didn’t depend on my mom or dad,” said Miloš, who is a student at the Faculty of Technical Sciences.