Shannon Valley Group, the civil engineering company owned by Mick English, has taken delivery of a 552hp Fendt 1052 bought from Dublin-based dealer Farmworks Machinery. The dealer said the machine, the first of its model in Ireland, is the largest Fendt in the country.
The 14t tractor is powered by a 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine producing 2,650Nm of torque.
Power behind the upgrade
English said that output was one of the main reasons he upgraded, having first seen the 1052 at Agritechnica. The company 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. Shannon Valley Group has run Fendts for seven or eight years, a loyalty he summed up simply: "a Fendt is a Fendt".
How it will be worked
In service, the tractor 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 specifying a tractor, and that they all recommend the same brand. He described Fendt as "the Rolls-Royce", a view he attributed to those suppliers rather than to himself.
He also rejected the suggestion that a tractor of this size is bought for show. Milling limestone boulders and hard clays drags the whole machine down, he said, and the more power available, the easier the load is on the tractor.
From Massey to MAN
English, from Co. Leitrim, has 35 years of earthmoving experience and, like most contractors, was around tractors from a young age. His father started in 1976 with a Massey 35 and then a Massey 165, machines that came without a cab.
He remembers climbing onto the 165 as a three-year-old when it arrived in the yard and jumping straight back off in tears at the noise when the throttle was opened. The family still has those tractors; the 165 was a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine.
His father began the business in London in 1966, buying new JCB 3C diggers, and moved it back to Leitrim in 1970 with the machines in tow. English said that in 1970s Leitrim a Massey 165 was the equivalent of today's 1052.
Shannon Valley Group now runs more than 200 diggers, including a 75t Hitachi Zaxis 690-7 bought in 2020 that was, at the time, the first of its kind sold in Europe.
English said he will "probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year as well".