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 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine that produces 2,650Nm of torque. Its power was one of the main reasons English upgraded after first seeing the model at Agritechnica.
Heavy-duty role
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 the manufacturers of those attachments when buying tractors.
“The manufacturers of the equipment that we use have done all their research, and no matter which one of them you speak to, they will all tell you to buy Fendt,” he said. He described Fendt as “the Rolls-Royce”, adding that the view came from those equipment makers rather than from him alone.
Power under load
English rejected the idea that large tractors are merely “for show”. He said the 1052 is “on her limit” when working in the ground to mill limestone boulders and hard clays, with the whole tractor being pulled down. In his view, more power makes the work easier on the tractor.
Previous Fendt experience
The purchase follows the company’s earlier 1050, bought three years ago and now carrying 4,000 to 5,000 hours. English said the company has been happy with it and had run Fendts for seven or eight years.
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 English noted had no cab. He said that in 1970s Co Leitrim, a Massey 165 was the equivalent of today’s Fendt 1052.
He recalled his father’s 165 being a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine. English remembered climbing onto the tractor at three years of age when it arrived in the yard, then jumping off crying because of the noise when the throttle was pulled. He said he still has those tractors.
His father was among the first in Ireland to have JCB machines, starting the business in London in 1966 with brand-new JCB 3C diggers before moving it back to Leitrim in 1970 with the JCBs and other equipment.
Fleet scale
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 sold in Europe. English said he will “probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year as well.”