Shannon Valley Group, the civil engineering company owned by Mick English, has bought Ireland’s first 552hp Fendt 1052. The Dublin-based dealer Farmworks Machinery said the 14t tractor is the largest Fendt in the country.
The machine has a 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine that produces 2,650Nm of torque. English said that power was one of the main reasons he upgraded after first seeing the model at Agritechnica.
An upgrade after experience with a 1050
The purchase follows the company’s experience with a Fendt 1050 bought three years ago, which has accumulated 4,000 to 5,000 hours. English said the company was happy with that tractor and opted for the new model. He added that Shannon Valley has run Fendts for seven or eight years, summing up the preference by saying that a Fendt is a Fendt.
In service, the 1052 will carry a 3.5t weight on the front and a 9t hybrid stone-crushing and soil-stabilisation machine on the back. English said he takes advice from attachment manufacturers when buying tractors, and that the manufacturers he speaks to recommend Fendt. He described the brand as the Rolls-Royce of tractors, attributing that view to the equipment makers rather than to his own judgement alone.
Heavy work at the limit
English rejected the suggestion that very large tractors are simply for show. He said the 1052 is at its limit when working in limestone boulders and hard clays, with the whole tractor being pulled down. In his view, more power makes the work easier on the machine.
Contractor background
English comes from Co Leitrim and has 35 years of earthmoving experience. His father began in 1976 with a Massey 35 and later a Massey 165; English recalled that the family did not have the luxury of a cab at that time.
Asked whether he expected then to own one of Ireland’s largest tractors, English said a Massey 165 was the equivalent of today’s Fendt 1052 in 1970s Co Leitrim. He remembered his father’s 165 as a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine. He also recalled climbing onto it at three years of age when it arrived in the yard and jumping off crying because of the noise when the throttle was pulled. The family still has those tractors.
English said his father was among the first in Ireland to have JCB machines. The father started the business in London in 1966, where he bought new JCB 3C diggers, and moved it back to Leitrim in 1970 with the JCBs and other equipment.
Shannon Valley 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 sold in Europe. English said he will probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year.