Shannon Valley Group, the civil engineering company owned by Mick English, has purchased Ireland's first 552hp Fendt 1052. The 14t tractor was bought from Dublin-based dealer Farmworks Machinery, which said the 1052 is the largest Fendt in the country.
The machine is powered by a 12.4L six-cylinder MAN engine that produces 2,650Nm of torque. English said he decided to upgrade to the 1052 after first seeing it at Agritechnica. Shannon Valley had bought a 1050 three years earlier, and that tractor has since accumulated 4,000 to 5,000 hours. English said the company had been happy with it, which led the business to choose the new model. He added that Shannon Valley has run Fendt tractors for seven or eight years.
Heavy working setup
The 1052 is set to carry a 3.5t weight on the front and a 9t hybrid stone-crushing and soil-stabilisation machine on the rear. English said he takes advice from the manufacturers of those attachments when buying tractors. According to English, those manufacturers have completed their own research and consistently recommend Fendt. He described the brand as the Rolls-Royce of tractors, while attributing that assessment to the equipment makers rather than presenting it as his company's claim alone.
English also rejected the suggestion that very large tractors are only for show. He said the tractor is at its limit when working in the ground to mill limestone boulders and hard clays, and that the whole machine is pulled down in those conditions. In his view, more power makes the work easier on the tractor.
Contracting background
English comes from Co Leitrim and has 35 years of earthmoving experience. His father started in 1976 with a Massey 35 and then a Massey 165, machines that did not have the luxury of a cab. English said that in the 1970s a Massey 165 was the equivalent of today's Fendt 1052 in Co Leitrim. He remembers his father's 165 as a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine.
He also recalled climbing onto that tractor at three years of age when it arrived in the yard, then jumping back off in tears because of the noise when the throttle was pulled. He said he still has those tractors. His father was one of the first people in Ireland to have JCB machines, having started the business in London in 1966 and bought brand-new JCB 3C diggers there. The business moved back to Leitrim in 1970, bringing the JCBs and other equipment.
Shannon Valley Group now has more than 200 diggers, including a 75t Hitachi Zaxis 690-7 bought in 2020. At the time, it was the first of its kind to be sold in Europe. English said he will probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year as well.