Shannon Valley Group, the civil engineering company owned by Mick English, has purchased Ireland's first 552hp Fendt 1052. The 14t tractor was bought from Dublin-based dealer Farmworks Machinery, which describes it as the largest Fendt in the country.
The machine is powered by a 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine producing 2,650Nm of torque. English said he upgraded after first seeing the model at Agritechnica, and that its power was a major reason for the move.
Shannon Valley Group previously ran a Fendt 1050, bought three years ago, which has logged 4,000 to 5,000 hours. English said the company has been happy with it and has used Fendts for seven or eight years. He summed up the company's reason for staying with the brand by saying that a Fendt is a Fendt.
In work, the 1052 will carry a 3.5t front weight and a 9t hybrid stone-crushing and soil-stabilisation machine on the rear. English said he follows advice from attachment manufacturers when specifying tractors, and that those suppliers consistently recommend Fendt. He described the brand as the Rolls-Royce of tractors and said the recommendation came from the equipment makers rather than from him.
English rejected the idea that very large tractors are mainly for show. He said the 1052 is at its limit when working the ground to mill limestone boulders and hard clay, with the whole tractor being pulled down. In his view, more power makes the work easier on the machine.
From Massey 165 to a 552hp flagship
English, who is from Co Leitrim, has 35 years of earthmoving experience. His father began in 1976 with a Massey 35 and later a Massey 165, at a time when the family did not have the luxury of a cab. English recalled that the family's 165 was a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine.
He also remembered climbing onto the tractor as a three-year-old when it arrived in the yard, then jumping off in tears when the throttle was opened because of the noise. The family still has those tractors, he said.
The business has a longer record of early adoption. English said his father started the company in London in 1966, buying brand-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 that was then the first of its kind sold in Europe.
English said he will probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year. For now, the new tractor is due to carry the front weight and the heavy rear attachment in demanding earthmoving work.