Dock populations soar as rains return after drought

One very significant impact of the 2026 drought now becoming apparent is the significant growth of dock populations in all grassland areas.

This is a direct consequence of the weed’s deep rooting nature.

Adding to the ‘dock challenge’ has been the return of the rain over recent weeks.

The issue is equally apparent in both grazing and silage swards.

Dock is one of the most significant yield robbers within grassland agriculture. It is also one of the most difficult weeds to eradicate.

Setting up the Rumbojet sprayer: (l-r) Danny and Padraig O’Mahony, from Castleisland in Co Kerry, with Stephen Mckeown: CW Agri

Padraig O’Mahony of the Castleisland-based farm contracting business, O’Mahony Machinery Hire, confirming that most parts of Co. Kerry and south-west Munster received small amounts of rainfall during July and August.

“And that was enough to keep docks growing,” he said.

“We have been receiving calls from farmers about this problem from as far away as Tipperary.

“And there is a real push on now to get to grips with the issue before the autumn closes in.”

The O’Mahony family provides a highly specialised grassland spraying service.

To this end, they have recently invested in a new computerised, spot spraying system, designed specifically to control broadleaf weeds in grass swards: the Rumbojet 880.

O’Mahony said: “Spot spraying is the future. It is the only way that farmers can meet both their production and environmental targets at the same time.

“We can set the machine up to selectively target individual weed species, including ragwort, thistle and nettles.

“But the real demand at the present time is for farmers who need effective dock control in their fields.”

The Rumbojet sprayer combines modern lighting, cameras, computer software and spraying technologies to identify specific weeds in a grass sward, which are then selectively sprayed with a herbicide.

The tractor-drawn sprayer features six high performance cameras, which can take up to 90 pictures per second.

As a consequence the 8.8m sward width that is traversed by the cameras is photographed at 3cm spacings, based on the tractor and sprayer travelling at the recommended speed of 10km/hr.

“The feedback that we are getting back from farmers has been very positive.

“The spot sprayer works tremendously well on docks, provided the plants are growing and a lot of green leaf area is available, which can be targeted with the herbicide,” O’Mahony said.

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