Niko Nemanic on Carrying the Weight for Farmers and Ranchers

May 14, 2026

Counseller's Corner - Season 2, Episode 17: From ranch work and cutting horses to national Strongman competitions and the classroom at Baylor Law School, second-year law student Niko Nemanic is taking an uncommon path to the legal profession. In this episode of Counseller’s Corner, Niko shares how growing up on a ranch shaped his work ethic, why a conversation about eminent domain pushed him toward law school, and how he hopes to help farmers and ranchers protect their land and family legacy.

Along the way, Dean Jeremy Counseller and Niko discuss balancing the demands of law school with elite-level fitness competition, including Niko’s recent appearance at the Red Bull Rancher Strong competition and his qualification for the United States Strongman National Championship. Equal parts thoughtful, funny, and flat-out impressive, this conversation gives listeners a look at a Baylor Law student who knows how to outwork a challenge, whether in the courtroom, the gym, or a field outside Brownwood, Texas.

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TRANSCRIPT

Jeremy

Welcome to another edition of Counseller’s Corner. I'm Jeremy Counseller, Dean of Baylor Law school, and today I am joined by second year law student, Niko Nemanic. Niko, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing?

Niko

I'm doing well. Thank you for having me.

Jeremy

I want you to talk a little bit about your path to law school. I know you're a graduate of Texas A&M University, about 100 miles south of here. But talk about how you came to, to law school.

Niko

Yeah. So, my freshman year, I did at Tarleton, and so I was working two jobs, doing school online since it was during Covid. And so, I was a ranch hand and a ranch manager. And so, I had to learn time management pretty well, trying to balance all of that. I never did online school before. And so, I ended up transferring into A&M, and, study agricultural economics.

And so, I've grown up farming and ranching, working for farmers, working for ranchers, and we've got a family farm as well. And so, we kind of had to deal with a lot of stresses that farmers normally have to deal with. You know, people wanting to take their land. For, for us, it was a carbon sequestration company. And, for a lot of farmers, it's wind farms, solar farms, all that.

And so, you know, I was dealing, dealing with having to talk with these lawyers and everything, and they said the word eminent domain in one of these meetings. And that made me really mad, and it made me mad enough to come to law school. And so, I came to law school, with the goal of helping farmers and ranchers.

They have just so many stresses right now. Corn prices are about half of what they were in 2022. And then also they have, you know, rising input costs. Diesel is out the roof right now. And there's a lot of issues with, like passing this farm down through the generations, you know. And farmers, they're, they're told all their life, you know, this family farm has been our generation for or been in our family for 5 or 6 generations.

This is our legacy. Don't let our legacy die with you. And then all of a sudden, you know, one day your kid comes up to you and you're like, I can't run this farm. I've got, you know, this great job or whatever. And so, these farmers are left, they, they don't really see any other options. And, I want to help with that.

I want to help them, you know, to keep their land, keep it in the family. And, you know, keep that legacy alive.

Jeremy

Well, that's great. Talk about... And we'll come, we'll come back to that. But, but talk about the kind of work you would do growing up on your family farm, and then the sort of tasks you did as a ranch hand and ranch manager.

Niko

Yeah. So, we did a lot with cutting horses. And so that's a sport where you go into a herd of cattle and you take one out and then you put your hand down to kind of let the horse keep that cow out of the herd. And so did a lot of work with horses, with cattle, my family's ranch in central Texas.

It's mostly, mostly cattle. And then we grow oats and stuff for the horses and all that. So, it'd be a lot of, a lot of working outside, fixing fences, finding pretty much any job that needs to get done. We would, we would do it.

Jeremy

Where is the, where is your family's ranch? You said Central Texas, but where abouts?

Niko

Outside of Brownwood.

Jeremy

Okay. And that's west of here.

Niko

Yeah.

Jeremy

Yeah.

Niko

About two hours west of here.

Jeremy

Okay, great. Yeah. Great. I want to. You've talked about what made you want to pursue a law degree, with the goal of helping farmers and ranchers, what do you think that will look like? You know, as you take your law degree, out into the world to serve farmers and ranchers? How do you think that would look?

Niko

So, a lot of business planning and succession and estate planning. There's a big lack of estate planning with farmers. There's kind of a superstition that if they're at a will, it means they're going to die soon, and they don't have time to die. They've got things to do, you know? And, you know, they're, they don't see lawyers as super approachable because a lot of times when they're meeting with lawyers, it's not for a good thing.

And so, I'd like to be able to fix that and kind of be approachable, understand what they're going through and everything, and be able to help that way.

Jeremy

Well, you certainly would have credibility given the work that you've done. And you, having grown up as the child of a, of a rancher, a child of ranchers. So, I think that's fantastic. It really fits your, your background. And like you say, I don't think there's any question that farmers and ranchers are struggling in this country right now and could use somebody like you to, to help them.

Okay, I notice you are wearing what, for this podcast, is and maybe any podcast is an unusual shirt. Tell us about your shirt.

Niko

Yes, sir. This is a shirt I got when I competed at Red Bull Rancher Strong.

Jeremy

And tell me what Red Bull Rancher Strong is.

Niko

It's, it's the farm and ranch theme kind of combination between Strongman, HYROX and CrossFit. And so, it was this big obstacle course, that was designed by a man named Lance Pekus. And he was an American Ninja Warrior also known as the cowboy ninja. And, basically, we had to do this obstacle course where the first event was called Escape the Barn.

And so, we had to go down these monkey bars, like on the top of a barn. I jump down and go down these monkey bars that were descending, and then we had to go run and move 250 pounds worth of grain sacks and put them in a wheelbarrow.

Jeremy

This is all simulating ranching or farming. Okay.

Niko

It's all, all meant to be like, kind of what you have to do. Daily life as a rancher. And it's all timed. And, then we'd run over to a tractor tire, had to flip that tire, put it up onto a tractor, and then they had logs set up. So, we had to go under the short logs, over the tall logs, and then we'd run over and, and this thing called grind the grain, which is kind of like it's a strongman implement.

It's called a Conan's wheel. And you have to hold it kind of an serger position and then run around and grind the grain, and then had to, run over to three stories tall of hay bales and then ascend to that and then hit a bell, then jump down and then carry, a yoke that had two buckets full of concrete on either side, and then run with that and set those down on hay bales, and then run over to a saddle and grab a rope that's attached to a sled with a bull head on top of it.

And that sled was 150 pounds. I didn't think that would be that bad. But you had to drag it through the dirt, so it was pretty tough. And so once you get that sled up to you, you had to run and then ascend the barn, hit a buzzer and, and…

Jeremy

All of this is timed.

Niko

All of it’s timed.

Jeremy

Okay. And so, so how long did it take you to do all of that?

Niko

So, my first round for the qualifiers I did it in two minutes and 12 seconds.

Jeremy

Holy smokes.

Niko

And then that qualified me for the semifinals.

Jeremy

I would have died on the first implement. I'd have fallen off the monkey bars. So good on you.

Niko

Thank you. And then I kind of figured out the course a little bit better. And I qualified for the semifinals. And, in my semifinals, I did it in two minutes. And so, I ended up getting in 10th place in the open. And which is really neat because I didn't think it'd be a whole bunch of pro athletes and stuff until I got added to the group chat.

There is NFL players, there was, HYROX champions, CrossFit champions, Pro Strongman. The guy who won it is a world record holder for the 50 and 200 meter or 200ft rope climb. And a full time Red Bull athlete. Yeah. It was.

Jeremy

It sounds dangerous to me.

Niko

It is a little dangerous.

Jeremy

Yeah. Anybody get hurt? You didn't get hurt, did you?

Niko

I didn't get hurt. No.

Jeremy

No major injuries at your event?

Niko

No major injuries. But they had a full staff of, like, physical therapists.

Jeremy

So, if you fall off that three story pile of hay bales, stack of hay bales, they have mats down there or anything?

Niko

Just dirt.

Jeremy

Just dirt?

Niko

Just dirt.

Jeremy

I guess it wouldn't be a ranching competition if there were soft mattresses.

Niko

Exactly.

Jeremy

You just walk it off, I guess.

Niko

That's right.

Jeremy

Okay. Walk it off. Now you're doing other kinds of competitions. What are some of the other ones you've got coming up?

Niko

So, I compete in Strongman competitions now. And I started that my second year of law school, during 4Q and so my first one was in November and that was in the novice, lightweight weight class, which was 220 pounds. So, yeah, the Strongman, there.

Jeremy

Is that the cap? That's the most you can weigh? Okay.

Niko

Yeah, for the lightweight class. And so got first place that.

Jeremy

Congratulations.

Niko

Thank you. That's great. And then my second competition I did over spring break. And that was my first open competition. I got first place at that, which is a lot of fun. That was called the Barbarian Games.

Jeremy

So, the lightweight category is people who weigh up to 220 pounds.

Niko

Yes. For that class, it was.

Jeremy

So, what's, what's like heavy weight like?

Niko

So, there's heavy weight which usually goes up to like 275 or like 310 or so. And then there's super heavy weight, which is anything over that. And so, the, yeah, the weight classes help a lot.

I would imagine.

Yeah.

Jeremy

Yeah. Wow.

Niko

Yeah.

Jeremy

Okay. You're in law school. You decide I'm going to compete in the Strongman competition. Why did you decide to do that? Like, I can see your connection to the, to the, to the ranching competition, but the, to the Red Bull ranching, Ranchers Strong. But the Strongman competition, what he was like, I think I don't have enough to do. I'll go do. I'll go do this.

Niko

Yes sir. So, so I came to law school. I was in really good shape. I was like 260 pounds, and I could run a seven-minute mile. And I come to law school, and I lost about 40 pounds. I got down to 220 and like…

Jeremy

And that’s because you stopped working out as as much. Okay?

Niko

I stopped working out as much. Wasn't eating as much. And so, I'm a very routine oriented person, and so I had a routine that worked for law school. It didn't really work for me. And so, then over my summer while I was interning, you know, a 9 to 5 was, you know, gave me enough time to start working out again and stuff.

So, I'd workout before work and I workout after work. I got in really good shape again. And so, I come back to law school and like, I need to change my routine. And so to kind of motivate myself to keep working out through finals and stuff, I signed up for that first strongman competition, which was a week after finals.

And so, I was like forcing myself to kind of maintain everything I built up over the summer. And I really enjoyed it.

Jeremy

It's probably a pretty good stress reliever, too.

Niko

Yeah. My academics have gone way up too since I've started this, even though I have less time devoted to law school. I think it's just because, like, the mental state is so much better, and I've kind of figured out too, like, if you're in law school, you don't think you have enough time to exercise. You're wrong. Right?

If you can run a mile in six minutes, that's how long it takes you to brush your teeth three times. So, you've got enough time to brush your teeth. You know, even if it's just for a little bit, you've got the time to just, doing something is better than nothing, you know? And yeah.

Jeremy

If you can run a mile in six minutes. Yeah.

Niko

Yeah. If you if you can't, though, just as much time as you can give it and it really helps your mental state.

Jeremy

That's, it's good advice. I mean, to, to make sure that there are some things you don't put aside just because you're going to have new demands on your time. I mean, lawyers are going to be busy for a long time and have a lot of demands on their time for a long time. They need to take care of themselves and take care of their other responsibilities.

So, I think it's a point, a point very well, well-made Niko. You talked about kind of what inspired you to go to law school, and it has to do with your background on growing up on a ranch. And I'm wondering how your upbringing, and because, if you're growing up on a ranch, everybody's working, right?

Everybody's making sure that the family business, the family ranch keeps operating. I wonder how all that has influenced the way you approach law school. If it's been help or how you've had to adjust.

Yeah. One of the main things that I've taken away, growing up working on farms and ranches, is that, like, I understand what hard work is, right? And I've never called myself a smart person, but I've always worked really hard. And so, like my first-year law school, I kind of joke I was like, I'm still learning how to read. And I kept working.

Jeremy

Weren't we all?

Niko

Yeah. And, kept working at it, you know, know what hard work is. And, you know, you can just, you keep working at something, you can, you can figure it out eventually. And that was one of the main things I've taken away from my upbringing is like, hard work can get you there. It's just a matter, a matter of time and dedication and effort. And I apply that to law school by just grinding it out as hard as I can.

Jeremy

So, is, is the plan when you're done with law school to go back to Brownwood or to another community? What, what do you think in that regard?

Niko

So, it would be nice to go back to Brownwood. I've got an internship in Bryan; I don't want to live in a big city. And so, I'd like to be in a smaller…

Jeremy

Bryan is getting pretty big.

Niko

Bryan is getting kind of big. But, yeah, I'd like to be in a smaller town and kind of just be able to help the community and everything. And there's, there's a big need for more people and ag law and everything, and, and. Yeah. So.

Jeremy

Okay, we have come to the lightning round. The questions are silly. Your answers have to be short. Sweet or salty snacks.

Niko

Salty.

Jeremy

Pizza or tacos?

Niko

Tacos.

Jeremy

Drive or fly?

Niko

Drive.

Jeremy

Online shopping or in-store?

Niko

In-store.

Jeremy

Study at home, school or coffee shop or elsewhere?

Niko

Study at home.

Jeremy

You're watching, you have to choose a TV show, comedy or drama?

Niko

Comedy.

Jeremy

Your alarm goes off in the morning. Do you get up on the first ring, or do you hit snooze?

Niko

First ring.

Jeremy

I'm not surprised to hear you say that. Cards or board games?

Niko

Cards.

Jeremy

Study group or study solo?

Niko

Study solo.

Jeremy

In the library do you go to a quiet floor, or do you want a little background noise?

Niko

Quiet floor.

Jeremy

Sweet breakfast or savory breakfast?

Niko

Savory breakfast.

Jeremy

That tracks. Window open or AC on?

Niko

Window open.

Jeremy

Music while getting ready or total silence?

Niko

Music.

Jeremy

Beach vacation or city trip?

Niko

Beach vacation.

Jeremy

Phone calls or text messages?

Niko

Phone calls.

Jeremy

Rewatch a favorite something or try something new?

Niko

Try something new.

Jeremy

Big friend group or a few close friends?

Niko

Big friend group.

Jeremy

Here's one I think is obvious. Start the day slow or jump right in?

Niko

Jump right in.

Jeremy

I understand you may have a question for me.

Niko

Yes, sir. I'm sure you've talked about before on podcast, but you mentioned that you used to study at a truck stop.

Jeremy

Yeah.

Niko

And, you told the truck driver that you wanted to be a truck driver. He says kid, stay in school.

Jeremy

Yeah.

Niko

And so, I'm wondering today if you had to pick a blue-collar job, what would it be? And why?

Jeremy

I did kind of want to be a long-haul truck driver. I think that's, I think that would be considered a blue-collar job. I admire people who can build things with their hands. And I guess if I had to choose something other than the truck driver, I would be a carpenter. I really admire people who can build furniture.

I've thought about kind of taking it up as a hobby, but I don't. I don't have any aptitude I don't think. You know, my brother and my dad, they do have that, and I just don't. But I admire that, you know, the ability to go and you need something and you build it. But the other thing today is, is very strange is it's cheaper to buy a thing than to build it.

I mean, with wood where it is. And so, at the price it is, but anyway, that's the kind of, kind of thing I would like. I mean, people come out to our house to fix things, and I'm like, I really wish I could do this myself. But I can't, just, you know, I don't I don't have much of an aptitude in that in that way.

Well, I mean, for you, what would it be? Other than being a farmer or a rancher, what would you do?

Niko

I'd like to be a plumber outside of farming and ranching.

Yeah, yeah. You make more money as a plumber than a lawyer, I think.

Niko

I think so, yeah.

Jeremy

So based on my experience with plumbers. There's a joke. The plumber gave a guy a bill for his services and lawyer says, and he says, hey, I'm a lawyer. I don't I don't make this much. And the plumber says, I know. I used to be a lawyer. Niko, thanks for coming in to the podcast. I appreciate you and, proud of what you're doing in law school and in your Strongman and Rancher Strong competitions. I think it's great that you're doing all that. Thank you.

Niko

Awesome. Thank you very much.

Jeremy

Niko

Awesome. Thank you very much.