Which brother is Nick closer to?

I would say Heath because they are more alike. Nick and Jarrod are at polar opposites, which is common in a three-character dynamic. Nick is at one end with Jarrod at the other, and Heath being in between. Plus, as you pointed out, Nick and Heath spend more time together taking care of the ranch.

Jarrod is far more diplomatic than Nick, whereas Nick would rather settle disputes with his gun or his fists. Heath, on the other hand, is prone to doing both, depending on the situation.

Star Trek had a similar dynamic. McCoy and Spock were opposites with Kirk being in the middle.

Nick obviously cares deeply for each member of his family, but he gets into more arguments with Jarrod due to their opposite personalities.

Breck had nothing but admiration for the entire cast, but there is a story about Richard Long asking Peter Breck why he played Nick with such intensity, to which Breck replied, "Because that's who Nick is."

This is a tough question. Jarrod and Heath are both private people. I'm sure Nick reveals more of the himself to both of them than either of them do to him.

Certainly he has more in common with Heath. They work together and live in the same house. And Nick feels a special protectiveness toward him.

But Jarrod and Nick grew up together. They're both invested in the family legacy. Nick may not be friends with Jarrod, but he loves and respects him deeply. Besides Mother, Jarrod is the only one who can stop Nick from acting out his aggressive impulses.

So I guess it depends on what you mean by closer. Heath is his partner in whatever scheme he comes up with, but I think he knows and can read Jarrod better.

This is brought up a lot when talking about the brothers. The replys that I have read pretty much says it all. Jarrod and Nick grew up together and though they had little in common and fought and disagreed a lot they of course loved each other. Nick and Heath had a rough beginning but had much in common and did spend a lot of time together and became very close and rarely fought with each other though didn't always agree either as they came from different worlds and had different personalities also. All in all it worked very well in most cases

I'd also say Nick is closer to Heath, after the first few episodes. Jarrod is kind of the outlier of the three - he's a lawyer, not a rancher, and he's away a lot with interests that his family doesn't even know about, plus he's the oldest and had to take over as fatherly head of the family after their father is killed. Heath is the one who knows the things Nick knows - ranching, fist-fighting to solve disputes - and they spend almost all of their time together. They just have more in common than either of them has with Jarrod.

I would say that Nick is equally close to both Jarrod and Heath. But in different ways. Nick and Jarrod grew up together so they share that brotherly history with each other. They are very different, but they know each other very well. Nick and Heath have more in common with each other and they share a number of adventures together. They are buddies as well as brothers.