Not knowing yourself will make the whole project useless before you even start your search. This can be just the pure enjoyment of working with a dog or it can be ego based pride in having a dog other people will admire. Then there are those that will not enjoy or take pride in a dog unless it is useful and practical in their every day routine. Some people may use their dogs for sport only, trialing etc. and never use them to work on their own place. A few large operation owners like the idea of giving good dogs to their hired help for their job use and never own one of their own.
Instinct is only the raw material.
Without instinct, your training will not make a sensible herding dog. Your dog could learn a rote pattern, but would be limited to those patterns only. He's just so smart he knows what needs doing and will bring in the milking herd when it's time, etc. It may be correct that he has never told the dog to fetch the herd, but it is also true that he didn't tell him not to do so. The dog has learned a habit pattern.