Shannon Valley Group, a civil engineering company owned by Mick English, has purchased Ireland's first 552hp Fendt 1052, a 14t tractor bought from Dublin-based dealer Farmworks Machinery. The dealer describes the 1052 as the largest Fendt in the country.
The tractor uses a 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine producing 2,650Nm of torque. English said power was one of the main reasons for upgrading after he first saw the model at Agritechnica. The company bought a Fendt 1050 three years ago and has put 4,000 to 5,000 hours on it; satisfaction with that machine prompted the move to the new model. It has run Fendts for seven or eight years.
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 rear. English said he takes guidance from the makers of such attachments when choosing tractors, adding that they consistently recommend Fendt. He said the equipment makers regard Fendt as the Rolls-Royce of tractors, and that the recommendation came from them rather than from his company.
English rejected the idea that a large tractor might only be for show. He said the 1052 is at its 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.
English is from Co Leitrim and has 35 years of earthmoving experience. His father started in 1976 with a Massey 35 and later a Massey 165; the machines did not have a cab. English recalled that in 1970s Co Leitrim, a Massey 165 occupied a similar position to the Fendt 1052 today. His father's 165 was a mark one with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine. English remembered climbing onto it at age three when it arrived in the yard and jumping off again in tears when the throttle was opened because of the noise. He still has those tractors.
His father was among the first in Ireland to own JCB machines. He started the business in London in 1966, buying new JCB 3C diggers, and moved it back to Leitrim in 1970 with the JCBs and other equipment. Shannon Valley Group now operates 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 the company will probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year.