Shannon Valley Group, the civil engineering company led by Mick English, has taken delivery of Ireland’s first 552hp Fendt 1052. The 14t tractor was purchased from Dublin-based dealer Farmworks Machinery, which described the 1052 as the largest Fendt in the country. English said the machine is “a massive tractor” when seen in person.
The 1052 uses a 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine producing 2,650Nm of torque. That output was central to English’s decision to move up from the 1050 model, after he first saw the 1052 at Agritechnica. Shannon Valley Group 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,” English said, adding that the company has run Fendts for seven or eight years because “a Fendt is a Fendt.”
Heavy attachments define the duty cycle
The new tractor is intended to carry a 3.5t front weight and a 9t hybrid stone-crushing and soil-stabilisation machine on the rear. English said he takes advice from the manufacturers of those attachments when specifying tractors, and that they consistently recommend Fendt. “Fendt is the Rolls-Royce. It’s not our say; it’s their say,” he said.
English rejected the idea that a tractor of this size is merely for show. In his application, the machine is worked to its limit when it is put into the ground to mill limestone boulders and hard clays, and the whole tractor is pulled down. “The more power you have, the easier it is on the tractor,” he said.
Contracting background
English comes from Co. Leitrim and has 35 years of earthmoving experience. Like many contractors, he was involved with tractors from a young age. His father began in 1976 with a Massey 35 and then a Massey 165; neither had 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 remembers climbing onto the tractor 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.
Buying new machines is part of the family history. English said his father started the business in London in 1966, where he bought brand-new JCB 3C diggers, and moved the operation 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.”