Studies of the soft QCD at LHCb

This paper summarises two analyses of minimum bias data collected with the LHCb detector from $pp$ collisions at the LHC. The geometry, tracking and particle identification system of the LHCb experiment provide unique capabilities for this type of study in a kinematic region where QCD models have large uncertainties. Measurements of prompt hadron production ratios and forward energy flow are presented and compared to predictions from MC event generators.