Shannon Valley Group, the civil engineering company owned by Mick English, has taken delivery of a 552hp Fendt 1052 — the first of the model in Ireland. The 14t tractor was supplied by Farmworks Machinery, a Dublin-based dealer, which said the 1052 is the largest Fendt in the country.
The machine is powered by a 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine producing 2,650Nm of torque. English said that output was one of the main reasons he moved to the 1052, which he first saw at Agritechnica.
Replacing a three-year-old 1050
The company bought a 1050 three years ago and has accumulated 4,000 to 5,000 hours on it. "We are happy with it so we went for the new model," English said, adding that the business has run Fendts for seven or eight years.
Front weight and a 9t implement
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, and that all of them recommend Fendt. "Fendt is the Rolls-Royce. It's not our say; it's their say," he said.
He also rejected the idea that a tractor of this size is only for show. In his work, he said, the machine is at its limit when milling limestone boulders and hard clays, with the whole tractor pulled down. "The more power you have, the easier it is on the tractor," he added.
From a Massey 165 to a Fendt 1052
English, who is from Co. Leitrim, has 35 years of earthmoving experience and, like most contractors, was involved with tractors from a young age. His father started in 1976 with a Massey 35 and then a Massey 165 — machines that came without the luxury of a cab. English said that in the 1970s, in Leitrim at least, a Massey 165 was the equivalent of today's Fendt 1052.
He remembers the family's 165 as a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine, and recalls climbing onto it at three years of age when it arrived in the yard, then jumping straight back off in tears at the noise when the throttle was pulled. He still has those tractors.
His father started the business in London in 1966, where he bought brand-new JCB 3C diggers, and moved it back to Leitrim in 1970 along with the JCBs and other equipment. Shannon Valley Group now runs more than 200 diggers, including a 75t Hitachi Zaxis 690-7 bought in 2020, which at the time was the first of its kind sold in Europe.
English said he will "probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year as well".