It's not every beauty contest that can be won by a girl named Basil wearing a flowered straw hat.

But the Virginia State Fair's "Pretty Cow" contest was, at least the senior division.

Basil is a Jersey, owned by Suzanne Leonard of Carroll County.

Leonard brought several cows for contests at the fair this year.

"I've done well, they all won the class they were in," Leonard said.

She decided to enter the Pretty Cow contest--where yes, the participants dress up their cows in costumes--just for fun.

"Mine are pretty tame and cool about it," Leonard said of the cows' reaction to being costumed.

Basil was "Plow Cow," in a horse harness and a straw hat that matched Leonard's.

They beat out "Milk Fil A," a large Holstein, in their beauty division.

In another division, the competition was between "Lady Moo-Moo," a spoof on Lady Gaga; a cow dressed in her owner's hunting gear; a face-off between a bottle of cola and healthier milk; and "Cereal Killer," a cow draped in a black cloth to which cereal boxes stabbed with red-stained knives were attached.

That was the entry from Trip Bopp of Remington. His cow, Mr. Sam, had already won a more prestigious award at the fair--grand champion of the Holstein dairy show.

It was Trip's second year in the contest, said his parents, Charlie and Sue Bopp.

Livestock are a big part of the annual fair, with 4-H clubs and farmers from around the state bringing their animals for judging.

There are competitions for beef and dairy cattle, goats, hogs, rabbits, poultry and other animals, although not all at once; the dairy cattle competitions were this weekend, but those for hogs, sheep and rabbits, for example, are this coming weekend.

The "Young McDonald's Farm" tent, which displays a variety of animals, is perennially popular. Children and adults alike crowded around pens with sows and their piglets, while newborn calves and their mothers rested nearby.

The goat tent was popular as well, with visitors petting several breeds of goats.

Elsewhere yesterday, fairgoers watched a tractor pull, where participants ranged from kids with lawn tractors to adults in helmets on souped-up machines far removed from a typical tractor.

Yesterday's events also featured a banjo competition, a cowboy mounted shooting competition, gospel music and an Elvis impersonator.

The fair, being held for the second year at Meadow Event Park in Caroline County, continues for another week, wrapping up Oct. 3.