Mick English, owner of Ireland's first 552hp Fendt 1052, has taken delivery of the 14-tonne tractor for his civil engineering company, Shannon Valley Group. The machine was purchased from Dublin-based dealer Farmworks Machinery, which describes the 1052 as the largest Fendt in the country.
The tractor is powered by a 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine producing 2,650Nm of torque. English upgraded to the 1052 after first seeing it at Agritechnica. Shannon Valley Group bought a Fendt 1050 three years ago and has put 4,000 to 5,000 hours on it, and English said the company has run Fendts for seven or eight years.
In service, the 1052 will carry a 3.5-tonne weight on the front and a 9-tonne hybrid stone-crushing and soil-stabilisation machine on the rear. English said he takes advice from the manufacturers of those attachments when buying tractors, and that they consistently recommend Fendt. He described the brand as 'the Rolls-Royce' of tractors.
English rejected the idea that large tractors are mainly for show. He said the 1052 is at its limit when 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, more power makes the work easier on the machine.
His experience with tractors dates back to childhood. His father began with a Massey 35 in 1976 and then a Massey 165; English noted that they did not have the luxury of a cab at that time. He recalled climbing onto the 165 at the age of three when it arrived in the yard, then jumping off crying because of the noise when the throttle was pulled. He said he still has those tractors.
English added that in 1970s Co. Leitrim, a Massey 165 was the equivalent of today's Fendt 1052. His father's 165 was a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine.
The family business has a longer history of buying new equipment. English said 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 75-tonne Hitachi Zaxis 690-7 bought in 2020, which was the first of its kind sold in Europe at the time.
English said he will probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year.