CHICAGO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange headed up on Friday as market players awaited the impacts of a winter storm forecast to hit the U.S. with heavy snow and freezing rain from the Central Plains to the East Coast.

CME February live cattle futures LCG26 settled up 2.100 cents at 236.925 cents per pound.

March feeder cattle futures FCH26 ended up 0.900 cent at 360.175 cents per pound.

"Cattle prices rallied as the adverse weather is expected to negatively impact production and transportation," said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at StoneX, in a client note.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported on Friday that the number of cattle on feed in feedlots on January 1 was down 3% from a year ago, compared with an average trade analyst guess of down 3.2% from a year ago, with cattle supplies remaining tight and the size of the U.S. herd at decade lows.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture quoted the choice boxed beef cutout value at $368.92 per hundredweight (cwt) on Friday afternoon, up $1.47 from a day earlier. Select cuts rose by $0.66 to $362.39 per cwt.

Meatpacker Tyson Foods TSN.N said on Friday it will temporarily continue to prepare beef for sale at a slaughterhouse it is closing in Lexington, Nebraska, offering a short reprieve to 9% of the facility's 3,200 workers. The company said in November it would close the beef plant around January 20 as tight cattle supplies raised costs for U.S. processors.

Meanwhile, lean hog futures ticked higher, with most-active April lean hogs LHJ26 ending down 0.125 cent at 88.350 cents per pound.

The USDA on Wednesday also reported pork carcass prices rose, up $1.13 to $95.75 per cwt, and pork belly prices jumped $1.55 to $128.90 per cwt.

(Reporting by Renee Hickman; Editing by Chris Reese)

((renee.hickman@thomsonreuters.com))