A sheep farmer is facing down one of Australia's biggest music festivals to prevent tens of thousands of revellers setting up next to his property this summer.

Greg Armistead has called for the Colac Otway Shire to block the Falls Festival, which will bring scores of bands and up to 25,000 fans to the Lorne area on the Great Ocean Road from December 29-31.

The council has been in discussions with the festival organisers and has not yet issued a planning permit.

Mr Armistead said the festival would cause months of disruption to his livestock and cropping operations, and that the proposed location of the festival was not appropriate for land zoned for farming.

"That won't be just for the Falls Festival [itself]. It will be for possibly two months they set up and pull down.

"My sheep aren't going to just walk straight past this huge city that suddenly emerges. I have a creek on my farm so I have no other way to get the sheep to the shearing shed."

'It's not a little festival'

Mr Armistead said his farm at Birregurra was immediately across a road from the proposed festival site, and that festival traffic would make it impossible for farmers and contractors to continue operating as normal.

He said it was his understanding the position of the stage would result in music from speakers blaring in the direction of his property.

"It's not a little festival. The stock is going to notice a small city being built next to them," he explained.

"Last year we were shearing the three days before Christmas, including Christmas Eve. Yes, I could push them across the creek but swimming sheep across the creek for shearing doesn't exactly work.

"If I can't run sheep on my farm there is an issue. What about fly strike or any other problem with my sheep? They have to be able to be brought up to the yards and the shearing shed."

Mr Armistead said his cropping operations would also suffer as a result of the festival.

"The rubbish [from the festival] coming into my crop, what's that going to do for my seed? There is the potential for entire tents to land in my property.

"The people don't pack up their stuff; they tend to leave almost everything. It takes weeks to clean up and if we get a big wind this stuff is going to end up in my crops.

"I believe I am fighting on behalf of every farmer in Australia. If they have a right to stop me from farming, and force me to sell up, then farming zone means nothing. It needs to be stopped 100 per cent. It can't be in our area."

Still working through the process

Colac Otway Shire chief executive officer Anne Howard said the council was responsible for granting the festival a permit but was hopeful the festival organisers could address Mr Armistead's concerns.

"Mr Armistead has certainly raised legitimate issues. They are issues we would expect to hear, and we have heard from other landowners with similar issues of livestock access," Ms Howard said.

"The applicant and the councillors were able to hear directly from submitters last week and that is very helpful. Everyone is still working through that process though and there is still work to be done to understand the range of issues.

"The dates are still being refined which is still part of the process. The applicant has listened to concerns, then council officers can work with the applicant to work out what may be done to mitigate those concerns or even avoid them.

"Over the next week or two we expect a tightening up on what has been proposed in terms of timeframe.

Ms Howard said the primary purpose of the zone was to support agriculture and "a range of things are prohibited" in the area.

"The festival is not one of those things," she said.

Ms Howard confirmed there had been 22 objections to the festival proposal and one letter of support.

"It's not the number of objections or the benefits alone, it's the balance," she said.

Falls Festival organisers Secret Sounds have been contacted for comment.