A civil engineering contractor in Ireland has taken delivery of a 552hp Fendt 1052, a 14t machine that the selling dealer, Farmworks Machinery, describes as the largest Fendt in the country. Its new owner, Mick English of Shannon Valley Group, said the tractor is a massive piece of equipment when seen in person.
The 1052 is powered by a 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine that delivers 2,650Nm of torque. According to English, that output was one of the main reasons he moved up to the new model, having first seen it at Agritechnica.
The purchase follows the company's earlier experience with a Fendt 1050, bought three years ago and now carrying 4,000 to 5,000 hours of work. English said the group had been happy with that machine, which is why it opted for the newer model. The business has run Fendt tractors for seven or eight years, a loyalty he summed up simply: a Fendt is a Fendt.
In service, 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 follows the advice of the manufacturers of those attachments when specifying a tractor, and that whichever supplier he speaks to, the recommendation is the same: buy Fendt. He described the brand as the Rolls-Royce of the sector, adding that the judgement comes from the equipment makers rather than from him.
English rejected the suggestion that very large tractors are bought mainly for show. Working the machine in ground where it mills limestone boulders and hard clays brings it to its limit, he said, with the whole tractor being pulled down. In his view, more power makes the work easier on the machine.
From a Massey 165 to a 552hp Fendt
English comes from Co. Leitrim and has 35 years of earthmoving experience behind him. Like many contractors he was involved with tractors from an early age: his father began in 1976 with a Massey 35 and later a Massey 165, machines that came without the luxury of a cab.
Asked whether he imagined then that he would one day own one of the largest tractors in Ireland, English drew a comparison between eras, saying that in the 1970s a Massey 165 was the equivalent of today's Fendt 1052 — in Co. Leitrim at least. He recalled the family's 165 as a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine, and remembered climbing onto it at the age of three when it arrived in the yard, then jumping straight back off in tears at the noise when the throttle was opened. He still has those tractors.
A family record of early adoption
Buying new machines runs in the family. English's 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, bringing the JCBs and other equipment with him.
Shannon Valley Group now runs more than 200 diggers, among them a 75t Hitachi Zaxis 690-7 bought in 2020, which at the time was the first of its kind to be sold in Europe.
As for the new 1052, English expects it to be followed by another: he said he will probably buy a second machine next year.