The Raincat. By 1959, an Australian company had modified the basic Valley approach and produced a center pivot system called the Grasslands. It featured many innovations that would become the standards for the industry in the future – the machine had electric motors to drive it (rather than water drive ones) and a truss system under each pipe span to bow and support the pipe (rather than overhead cables). A California pump manufacturer Layne and Bowler brought the system to America, put rubber tires on it and renamed it the Raincat. But California farmers didn't need center pivots as badly as farmers on the Plains. So, the company went through several ownership changes, eventually landing in Greeley, Colorado. Raincat went out of business in the early 1980s.