Shannon Valley Group, a civil engineering company led by Mick English, has purchased Ireland's first 552hp Fendt 1052. The 14t tractor was bought from Farmworks Machinery, a Dublin-based dealer that 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. English said the power output was a main reason for upgrading to the 1052 after first seeing it at Agritechnica. The company previously bought a 1050 three years ago and has put 4,000 to 5,000 hours on it. 'We are happy with it so we went for the new model,' he said, adding that Shannon Valley has had Fendts for seven or eight years.
In work, 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. According to him, those manufacturers' research consistently points to Fendt. He described the brand as 'the Rolls-Royce', while stressing that the view came from equipment makers rather than his own assessment.
English rejected the idea that a large tractor might be bought only 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.
English, from Co Leitrim, has 35 years of earthmoving experience and has been involved with tractors since childhood. His father started in 1976 with a Massey 35 and later a Massey 165, machines that lacked the cab comfort of later tractors. English recalled that the family's 165 was a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine. He remembered climbing onto it at three years old when it arrived in the yard and jumping off crying because of the noise when the throttle was pulled. He said he still has those tractors.
When asked whether he expected to own one of Ireland's largest tractors, English said that in the 1970s a Massey 165 was the equivalent of a Fendt 1052 today, at least in Co Leitrim. His father started the business in London in 1966, buying brand-new JCB 3C diggers, and moved it back to Leitrim in 1970 with the JCBs and other equipment. His father was among the first in Ireland to have JCB machines.
Shannon Valley Group now operates more than 200 diggers, including a 75t Hitachi Zaxis 690-7 bought in 2020 that was then the first of its kind sold in Europe. English said he will 'probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year as well.'