diff --git a/dbfread/field_parser.py b/dbfread/field_parser.py
index e54ccb2..fb233a4 100644
--- a/dbfread/field_parser.py
+++ b/dbfread/field_parser.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 """
 import sys
 import datetime
+import string
 import struct
 from decimal import Decimal
 from .memo import BinaryMemo
@@ -163,7 +164,9 @@ def parseN(self, field, data):
         """
         # In some files * is used for padding.
         data = data.strip().strip(b'*')
-
+        # Some files have chr(31), which we need to remove
+        data = filter(string.printable.__contains__, data)
+        
         try:
             return int(data)
         except ValueError: