Mick English, owner of the civil engineering company Shannon Valley Group, has recently purchased a 552hp Fendt 1052 that he describes as Ireland’s first. The Dublin-based dealer Farmworks Machinery, which supplied the 14t tractor, said the 1052 is the largest Fendt in the country.
The tractor is powered by a 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine that produces 2,650Nm of torque. English said that power was one of the main reasons he upgraded to the 1052 after first seeing the model at Agritechnica. Shannon Valley Group previously bought a 1050 three years ago and has accumulated 4,000 to 5,000 hours on it. English said the company was happy with that machine and had run Fendts for seven or eight years, adding that “a Fendt is a Fendt”.
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 advice from the manufacturers of these attachments when buying tractors. He said they have done their research and that, whichever one he speaks to, they recommend Fendt. He described the brand as the “Rolls-Royce” of tractors and added: “It’s not our say; it’s their say.”
English rejected the suggestion that a large tractor might be only for show. He said the machine is at its limit when it is working in the ground to mill limestone boulders and hard clays, and that the whole tractor is pulled down in those conditions. In his view, having more power makes the work easier on the tractor.
Based in Co Leitrim, English has 35 years of earthmoving experience and, like most contractors, has been involved with tractors from a very young age. His father started with a Massey 35 in 1976 and later used a Massey 165; English recalled that the family did not have the luxury of a cab at that time. He said that in the 1970s a Massey 165 was the equivalent of today’s Fendt 1052 in Co Leitrim.
He remembered the family’s 165 being a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine. He said he still has those tractors. He also recalled climbing onto the tractor at three years of age when it arrived in the yard and jumping off again in tears because of the noise when the throttle was pulled.
English said his father was among the first in Ireland to have JCB machines. The 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 the time, it was the first of its kind sold in Europe, according to the article. English said he will probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year.