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This border collie named Jake was showing off his herding dog skills with these sheep Tuesday at Husker Harvest Days.

For more than a decade, Bill and Tanya Gifford, who ranch in Western Nebraska near Scottsbluff, have been holding a herding dog demonstration at Husker Harvest Days.

While the border collies have a natural born instinct for their work, Tanya Gifford relates an old shepherd’s saying about herding dogs that it takes a year for every leg they have to direct those born instincts into effective herding skills.

For more than a decade, Bill and Tanya Gifford, who ranch in Western Nebraska near Scottsbluff, have been holding a herding dog demonstration at Husker Harvest Days near Alda and Wood River.

This year, the Giffords, who are members of the U.S. Border Collie Handler Association, have a new location at HHD. The location affords them better visibility for their demonstrations.

They bring their border collies at different ages to show how the dogs progress in their training as they grow older. Bill Gifford said the dogs are born with the natural instinct to work with livestock. The job of the dog’s owner is to direct that natural instinct into a productive animal that can work livestock.

The Giffords raise both cattle and sheep and put their dogs to good use in managing their herds.At the same time, their demonstrations educate people about how herders and ranchers have put “man’s best friend” to good practical use.

From the time man first domesticated dogs, they modified the animal’s predatory behavior into the ability to herd other animals that man had domesticated.

A breed like the border collie can get in front of an animal and use what is called its “strong eye” to stare the animal down, according to an online encyclopedia.

Tanya Gifford said they’re “really excited about” their new location at HHD.

“Hopefully, we’ll get a lot of people interested and have them get to know these dogs,” she said.

After more than a decade, the herding dog demonstrations are still popular with the HHD visitors.

In their new location, they are surrounded by the latest technology in agriculture. Demonstrating this old art of tending to livestock brings a perspective to what agriculture has become in feeding a world of 8 billion people.

“Actually, I don’t know how people get along on their ranches and their farms without these dogs,” Gifford said. “I mean, they’re like having a hired hand, you know, several of them, and they cost a lot less money.”

For their demonstrations at HHD, the Giffords have brought nine of their border collies with them.

While the border collies have a natural born instinct for their work, Gifford relates an old shepherd’s saying about herding dogs that it takes a year for every leg they have to direct those born instincts into effective herding skills.

A couple of weeks earlier, at the Nebraska State Fair, visitors got to see these herding dogs in action in a timed competition.

“The popularity of these dogs are getting more and more popular all the time,” Gifford said. “It is growing like crazy.”

The herding dog demonstration will go on four times daily during HHD at 9 and 11 a.m., 1 and 3 p.m. They are located at Lot 1122.

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Husker Harvest Days 2022 is underway on the west edge of Grand Island. Check out some of the demonstrations at this year's events.

This border collie named Jake was showing off his herding dog skills with these sheep Tuesday at Husker Harvest Days.

For more than a decade, Bill and Tanya Gifford, who ranch in Western Nebraska near Scottsbluff, have been holding a herding dog demonstration at Husker Harvest Days.

While the border collies have a natural born instinct for their work, Tanya Gifford relates an old shepherd’s saying about herding dogs that it takes a year for every leg they have to direct those born instincts into effective herding skills.

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