I'm not all that experienced, but we are raising our first calf ourselves. This is my 2 cents: Band them early - the earlier the better as far as handling them. We waited until he was 3 months, would have been better to do when he was 3 days! Yes, you can do it yourself, but finding "both" obstacles was a challenge for us. We thought we had it under control, but after 3-4 weeks nothing was 'falling off', so we ended up having the vet make a house call. And to our surprise we had 'missed one'
Consider dehorning - we did it because my young children are around him all the time and he loves to head-butt you with affection (even at 300+ lbs!) If you choose to dehorn (we had the vet make another house call), do it early. Again handling was the issue. I understand this can be done yourself too, but we didn't have the materials (I didn't want to use the paste), or know-how and our vet in extremely accomodating and affordable. Maybe next time.
Our "Norman" was a gift, so he is not the best choice for beef - he's a Holstein - but the learning experience has been great fun. Eventhough he is freezer bound, he is pampered much like a pet. Next spring we hope to get another calf, probably a breed more 'beefy'.
Good Luck!