diff --git a/pyinfra/storage/proto_data_loader.py b/pyinfra/storage/proto_data_loader.py
index 1bb6d9c..2e9cc58 100644
--- a/pyinfra/storage/proto_data_loader.py
+++ b/pyinfra/storage/proto_data_loader.py
@@ -87,8 +87,13 @@ class ProtoDataLoader:
 
 def convert_int64_fields(obj):
     # FIXME: find a more sophisticated way to convert int64 fields (defaults to str in python)
+
+    # we skip the following keys because the values are expected to be of type str
+    skip_keys = ["col", "row", "numberOfCols", "numberOfRows"]
     if isinstance(obj, dict):
         for key, value in obj.items():
+            if key in skip_keys:
+                continue
             obj[key] = convert_int64_fields(value)
     elif isinstance(obj, list):
         return [convert_int64_fields(item) for item in obj]