In Australian “ley farming” systems, annual legume pastures profitably and ecologically integrate cereal crop and livestock production to form the foundation for flexible and sustainable semi-arid lands farming systems. Medic (annual Medicago spp.) pasture alternates with wheat in much of semi-arid southern Australia. Annual medics regenerate yearly from a soil seed bank, and in the pasture phase of the cropping sequence provide forage for sheep and cattle. After extensive evaluations of diverse annual medics, it has been determined that M. rigidula (a species found at high latitudes and elevations in Eurasia, and neither naturalized nor commercialized in Australia) is a promising candidate for winter annual regenerative pasture on the Central High Plains. The events over the passed 10 years which elucidated the potential of M. rigidula (WY-SA-10343) as the first winter annual ‘ley' species for the Central High Plains will be discussed.