In terms of conditioning I just rinse my beard through when showering (if you really get at it you can still get plenty of water to the skin) and then after rub some olive oil into it and leave it in, occasionally rubbing it further, for about an hour then rinse it out. I find this makes the hairs much softer.
A lot of the guys here talk highly of jojoba oil for making things soft but i've no personal experience with that.
Though something a little simpler would be to just use regular hair conditioner on it.

I hope this can be of help to you and your beard!  Keep it going.

Check out my beard growth thread here:
http://jefffsbeardboard.yuku.com/topic/13678/daveomac-beard

And for a venture into something a little different try my blog: