For this episode I visited Fiona Provan, who runs the Calf at Foot Dairy in Suffolk, a ‘pioneering microdairy founded on the belief that cows should keep their calves until their natural weaning age’.
N.b this episode contains language that may be offensive to some.
thinkingcountry.com 
Heroine!
I read about an American dairy farmer in the midwest, Missouri maybe, who did the same thing. When asked why he did not separate the calves from the mothers, he would answer, “The mamas do a better job.” One reason he was able to make a profit was because he interfered less with the cattle. Unfortunately, I cannot remember in which book I read about him.