Harford County Executive Barry Glassman will spend the next few days dealing with sheep, no politics, just sheep, as he prepares to show seven lambs at the Maryland State Fair in Timonium.
Glassman, who raises sheep at his farm in Darlington, spent Wednesday preparing the Katahdin hair sheep for a Thursday morning departure. He and his lambs are scheduled to be at the fairgrounds Thursday through Monday – he will show the sheep Sunday.
He has been showing sheep at the state fair for about 25 years, and he has become friends with the other sheep exhibitors, many who come from out of state and don't know him as an elected official.
"I can just be me," Glassman said. "I don't have to talk politics, I just talk sheep, and it's a nice respite for me. I think that's why I've enjoyed it so much over the years."
Glassman grew up in Level and has been around sheep since he was a child. His father, Charles, still lives in Level and has a flock of 10 to 15 sheep.
Glassman's flock is about 40 head, but will double to about 80 in February and March during "lambing" season, when the newest sheep are born.
"It's just a hobby I've had for a long time," Glassman, who is retired from BGE and has been an elected official since he joined the Harford County Council in 1990, said.
He was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1999 and to the Maryland Senate in 2007. He was elected to his first term as county executive in 2014.
"This is where I come for respite," he said of his sheep barn.
He used the nickname "Baaa...rry" Glassman in his campaign signs two years ago, a play on a sheep's "baaa!" cry.
It was a nickname he got from his fellow legislators.
"It stuck with me through all 16 years in the legislature," Glassman said.
His wife, Debi, has helped care for the sheep for many years, and he recalls having to drive home from Annapolis, if he got a call from her during the legislative session about a sheep-related emergency.
Glassman started bringing sheep to the state fair in the early 1990s when his son, Jordan, now 23, was involved in 4-H. They started showing in the 4-H youth competition, and Glassman has been showing in the fair's open competition for about 20 years.
His son aged out of 4-H after his senior year of high school.
Glassman said he is probably the only elected official who shows sheep at the state fair.
Besides a place where he can relax, the fair is also an opportunity for Glassman to market Harford County to a statewide audience.
He showed one of the stickers he plans to give out to children, part of a series of marketing materials designed "to get people not only interested in agriculture, but Harford County."
Glassman showed the seven lambs, who were milling around in a pen in his barn, to an Aegis reporter Wednesday evening, after they had been washed and prepped before they were loaded into a trailer Thursday morning.
"They can always tell when someone comes into the barn, other than [who] they're used to," Glassman said. "They get a little nervous or hang back."
Some of the lambs going to the state fair were born in November, and others were born in January and February.
One lamb is named Blizzard, because she was born during Winter Storm Jonas in January, when more than 30 inches of snow fell on Harford County.
Three males and four females are going to Timonium. Glassman purchased one lamb from Ohio and another from Oklahoma – the rest were raised on his farm.
The males were butting heads with each other. Glassman said each will have his own pen at the fair.
"Even though they were raised together, they will just fight and fight and fight," he said.
Mating season is beginning, and the older males were butting their heads against gates in other pens to get to females.
"The rams will fight, this time of year," Glassman said.
Glassman raises the "low-maintenance" Katahdin hair sheep, which do not have wool, but rather short, wiry hair. They do not need to be shorn, just brushed, and farmers do not have to dock their tails, or cut them to ensure better health.
He said their meat is mild, and he has sold sheep to be served at local restaurants such as Laurrapin Grille in Havre de Grace and Sunny Day Cafe in Bel Air.
"[They're] perfect for a guy that's running a county," Glassman said. "I don't have to do a lot of extra work."