Shannon Valley Group, a civil engineering company owned by Mick English, has purchased a 552hp Fendt 1052. English is described as the owner of Ireland’s first 552hp Fendt 1052, and the 14t tractor was bought from Dublin-based Farmworks Machinery. The dealer said the 1052 is the largest Fendt in the country.
The machine uses a 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine producing 2,650Nm of torque. That power output was one of the main reasons English upgraded to the 1052 after first seeing it at Agritechnica.
Upgrade from a 1050
English said the company bought a 1050 three years ago and has accumulated 4,000 to 5,000 hours on it. The business was happy with that tractor, which led it to choose the new model. He added that Shannon Valley has run Fendts for seven or eight years, saying simply that “a Fendt is a Fendt.”
Heavy attachments
The 1052 is to carry a 3.5t weight on the front and a 9t hybrid stone-crushing and soil-stabilisation machine on the back. English takes advice from the manufacturers of these attachments when buying tractors. He said that regardless of which manufacturer he speaks to, they all recommend Fendt, and he described the brand as the Rolls-Royce.
English rejected the suggestion that large tractors might be only for show. He said the tractor is on its limit when working in the ground to mill limestone boulders and hard clays, with the whole machine being pulled down. In his view, more power makes the work easier on the tractor.
Family 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, at a time when cabs were not available on those machines. English said that in the 1970s a Massey 165 was the equivalent of a Fendt 1052 today, at least in Co. Leitrim.
He remembered jumping onto his father’s mark one 165 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 still has those tractors. His father started the business in London in 1966, where he bought new JCB 3C diggers, and moved it back to Leitrim in 1970 with the JCBs and other equipment.
Shannon Valley Group now has more than 200 diggers, including a 75t Hitachi Zaxis 690-7 bought in 2020. At that time it was the first of its kind to be sold in Europe. English said he will probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year as well.