Mick English, an earthmoving contractor from Co Leitrim, has become the owner of Ireland's first 552hp Fendt 1052. His company, Shannon Valley Group, recently bought the 14t tractor from Farmworks Machinery. The Dublin-based dealer 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 that power was one of the main reasons he upgraded to the 1052 after first seeing it at Agritechnica.
Upgrade from a 1050
Shannon Valley Group bought a Fendt 1050 three years ago and has put 4,000 to 5,000 hours on it. English said the company has been happy with that tractor, which led it to choose the new model. The business has run Fendts for seven or eight years, and he summed up the brand loyalty simply: “A Fendt is a Fendt.”
The 1052 will work with 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, and that they consistently recommend Fendt. He relayed their description of the brand as the Rolls-Royce of tractors, adding that the recommendation comes from the equipment makers rather than from him.
Heavy work, not display
Large tractors can be seen as machines bought for show, but English rejected that view for this purchase. He said the tractor is at its limit when working in the ground to mill limestone boulders and hard clays, and that the whole machine is pulled down in those conditions. In his view, more power makes the work easier on the tractor.
English has 35 years of earthmoving experience and, like many contractors, grew up around tractors. His father started in 1976 with a Massey 35 and then a Massey 165, machines that lacked the luxury of a cab. English recalled that the 165 was a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine. He remembers climbing onto it 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 opened. He still has those tractors.
A family history of new machines
Buying new machines has been part of the family history. English said his father was one of the first people in Ireland to have JCB machines. His father started the business in London in 1966, where he bought 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. At the time, it was the first of its kind sold in Europe. English said he will probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year as well.