Rod Froelich of Selfridge figures he'll spend $25,000 to haul hay home this fall to feed cattle this winter.

It's money he'll get from his banker to try to get through this year's drought.

But if the funding for disaster relief that passed the U.S. Senate Tuesday clears the House, he might get some help from the federal government.

Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said the passage of the bill represents a victory for farm states, but it's far from a done deal.

The bill provides nearly $6 billion to help mainly ranchers recover from lost feed production this year and last and to compensate them for money they spent to buy feed and transport it to their cattle.

Froelich, like thousands of other North Dakotans in the worst drought areas, traveled hundreds of miles from home to cut hay from Conservation Reserve Program acres. The acres were open for emergency haying and grazing this year, but the cost to bring the hay home is double and triple that of bales cut in home hay fields.

Dorgan said the details aren't done, but the measure should bring hundreds of millions of dollars to North Dakota, money that will go from the farm to main street.

Froelich said without help, several ranchers where he lives in Sioux County won't be on the ranch next year.

He believes as many as 25 percent of the 270 producers in Sioux County will be washed out on a flood of red ink if help doesn't come their way.

Froelich said it's also important that ranchers who raise bison, sheep and horses get some coverage.

"If not, we're going to see doom to a lot of people," he said.

Dorgan will be a conferee as the bill moves from the Senate to the House and said he expects it will move fairly quickly given the upcoming election recess.

Producers affected by both drought and flooding will be eligible.

North Dakota State University's data center has already estimated that this year's drought has had a $600 million impact on North Dakota, about one-third due to lost production.

Dorgan said the disaster bill is important because livestock producers aren't covered under the Farm Bill programs.

Brooke Svangstu, Hettinger County director of the Farm Service Agency, said she has to know the provisions of the disaster funding before she knows the extent to which it will help ranchers out her way.

She said ranchers have been asking for a livestock feed program.

"If they got it, I think it would help," Svangstu said.

She's worried about the high stress level of Hettinger County area ranchers, who are dealing with feed problems and dried up water sources.

The disaster relief could be headed to her office to administer at the same time it's working with the new Farm Bill.

How to do it all, is the million-dollar question, she said.

"We'll do it one way or another," she said.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or scoop@ndonline.com.)